American Crime Stories
by aforrest
Summary: She had lied to him. For months. The more he thought about it, the faster the hurt faded away. It was replaced by anger. No, not anger, pure and unchecked fury. The story starts during "Forty-seven" and will go from there. This won't be Caskett!
1. Chapter 1

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** Welcome to my first published Castle fic. The story will contain three major story arcs and will play in the city that never sleeps. Later on, characters from other TV shows placed in New York and possible from other locations will appear. Some of them will be the same as in canon, some of them won't.

Because of this, I want to get the disclaimer out of the way: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. of any TV show used in this fic are the property of their respective owners, producers or creators. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

However, at this point I want to thank TheBlackHand724 who has graciously allowed me to use some of his characters and parts of his stories. I'm looking forward to introduce some of his/her OC's and hope to do them justice!

I don't want to give out too much information about the main pairing, so I'm only going to state that it won't be 'Caskett'.

What else? Oh, yeah. Updates will be slow. Although I know where I want to go with my story, I have to write it down first. As real life is a b***, I don't know how much time I get to write.

Furthermore, as a non-native speaker, I am sorry to say that I will be making mistakes. Though I'm going to try to minimize them, I promise.

And last but not least, feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome. Please, feel free to tell me what you like or dislike! I am also open for any ideas and suggestions ;-)

So, without further ado…

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter one**

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM**

Detective Kate Beckett walked into the interrogation room. "Robert Lopez – that's your name. Right, Bobby?" She greeted the only other person in the room. She crossed the interrogation room to sit at the table, facing her suspect in the Boylan Plaza bombing.

"Actually, I know quite a bit about you", she continued to tell him. "I know where you live. I know you have no record. I know that you're not a member of any political party. And as soon as my team finishes searching your place, I'm gonna know even more about you. Eventually, we're gonna find out but why don't you just tell me," the detective leaned forward and stared her suspect in the eyes, "why did you plant that bomb?" Bobby couldn't look her in the eyes. Instead he looked down without giving an answer.

"No answer?" Beckett stood up and walked around the table. "Would you like me to refresh your memory?" She put a map in front of him and pointed to a specific point. "You were standing hear, by the lamppost. You dropped the backpack and started running as it exploded, killing five people."

"I didn't do what you're saying," Bobby told her nervously.

Beckett snorted disbelieving. "Witnesses saw you dropping your backpack, Bobby." She told him with a raised voice.

"It wasn't mine."

"So, you admit at having it?"

"No, that's – that's not what I meant."

"You just said that it wasn't yours." Beckett sat down on the table just a few inches away from Bobby.

"Yeah, because you got me all confused with –"

"Did you or didn't you have it?" Beckett pressed on. "It's a simple question."

"I don't – I don't know. I don't remember."

"Who put you up to this, Bobby? Who gave you that backpack?"

"I don…, I don't remember," Bobby stammered.

"You don't remember? How do you not remember?"

"I was in shock. The bomb went off. Everyone was running and screaming." Bobby words came out fast now. He was visibly agitated.

"So, you remember what happened after the bomb went off but not before." Beckett wanted to clarify.

"It must have been one of these dramatic amnesia things."

"Bobby – don't lie to me", Beckett told Bobby.

"I'm telling you it was all a big blank. It was the trauma."

Beckett's response was immediate. She was done playing his game. "It was not the trauma." She paused before pointing a finger at him. "You don't get to use that excuse."

"I swear I don't remember," Bobby countered.

"The hell you don't remember," Beckett exploded. "Do you wanna know trauma? I was shot in the chest, and I remember every second of it. And so do you!" Beckett forced the words out of her mouth and glared at him. Then she pushed herself from the table, trying desperately to put distance between them.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Richard Castle, famous writer and all around ruggedly handsome man, walked into the bullpen, carrying his customary two coffees. He headed to Beckett's desk, nodding at an officer as he passed him. He stopped and looked around for his partner. Not seeing her, he set her coffee on her desk. Then he saw one of his other partners walking through the bullpen.

"Hey, Esposito. No luck with those witness statements. You guys catch a break?"

"Better yet, we caught the suspect," Detective Javier Esposito replied with a small smile.

Castle looked incredulously. "And I missed it? Where is he?"

"In the box. With Beckett."

Castle nodded and rushed to the observation room.

" _You don't remember. How do you not remember?"_

From behind the glass, Castle was enjoying watching Beckett in her element, interrogating and in this instance, railing a suspect.

" _I was in shock. The bomb went off. Everyone was running and screaming."_

" _So, you remember what happened after the bomb went off but not before."_

" _It must have been one of these dramatic amnesia things."_

 _"Bobby – don't lie to me."_

" _I'm telling you it was all a big blank. It was the trauma."_

" _It was not the trauma. You don't get to use that excuse."_

 _"I swear I don't remember."_

 _"The hell you don't remember. Do you wanna know trauma?"_ Castles nodded his head, letting her words rush through him without looking into the interrogation room. " _I was shot in the chest, and I remember every second of it. And so do you!"_

In the observation room, Castle slowly processed what he'd just heard. Her words hit him hart. "All this time. You remembered?" He asked low and slowly into an empty room, hurt in his words.

Castle stared at Beckett through the glass. The detective was standing behind her suspect, looking angry at no specific point. She didn't know that he was watching her from the adjacent interrogation room. His heart ached. She lied to him. She has been deliberately lying to him for months. She had lied to him when they sat on the swings and since then on. The more he thought about it, the faster his hurt faded away. It was replaced by anger. No, not anger, pure and unchecked fury. He wanted to rush into the interrogation room and confront her. Take her at the shoulders and shake her. He wanted to demand answers, but he knew that he couldn't do that. These were neither the time nor the place for such a confrontation. He decided to follow the other emotion waging in his mind - the notion of flight. Decision made, Castle left the observation and got the hell out of the precinct. He walked completely on auto-pilot and didn't register anything around him on his way towards the elevator.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

A few minutes later, Beckett walked back to her desk with Esposito.

"Guy's still not talking?" The male detective asked.

"Not yet. I'm gonna let him sweat for a bit." When she got to her desk, she saw the coffee on her desk.

"Was Castle here?"

"Yeah. Earlier. But I saw him leaving again a few minutes ago." He replied and walked away. Beckett paused at those words, picked up the coffee and looked down at it. She didn't know – and wouldn't for a while – that her unintentionally confession had been overheard. Overheard by the one person who shouldn't have heared her words. And that her words had started a process, that would change not only her life but that of many other people.

* * *

 **BOYLAN PLAZA**

On his way home, Rick had called his mother. He shortly told her what had happened and asked her to meet him.

Rick and Martha walked up to the plaza, where a makeshift memorial site had been created.

"Oh Richard, really? A bomb memorial? C'mon, honey. Isn't this kind of morbid?"

"Well it's how I'm feeling."

"She isn't dead."

"She might as well be." His voice was a mix of anger and sadness that caused Martha to look at him in shock.

"I really thought we could have a future together. You know, I was – I was willing to wait." They talked while approaching a fence filled with flowers, flags and photos. "Turns out it's all just a big joke." Castle turned to his mother. "She knew. This whole time, she remembered. And she didn't say anything." Rick paused, trying to find a reason for Beckett's behavior. "She was embarrassed because she doesn't feel the same way. I'm such a fool."

Martha looked at the memorial. She wasn't sure what to do or say. So, she fell back to the one way she knows that would dull the pain - at least for a while. "Well c'mon. Let's go home. Break out some of the good stuff, okay?" She proposed and grabbed his arm.

"Well I'd love to. I've got to be getting back to the precinct." Those words shocked Martha.

"Back? Why on Earth would you go back, knowing how she feels, knowing that she lied to you –"

"No, no, no. This isn't about her. This is – this is about them." Castle gestured to the fence. "You know? It's about doing something real. Something that matters. I'm not willing to let that go."

The look on Martha's face clearly showed that she didn't like her sons plan. However, as always she tried to be understanding. She smiled at him sadly and said, "Richard, love is not a switch. You can't just turn it off. You can't work side by side with her and not feel anything."

Rick thought about her words for a moment and mentally steeled himself. "Watch me."

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Castle exited the elevator and walked towards his desk. His partner was working on paperwork at her desk. He paused for a moment. If anyone had seen him, they would have seen the anger on his face. He tried to rein his emotions in before he reached his destination.

"Hey." He greeted her, hoping that Beckett wouldn't hear the anger in his voice. She didn't. Instead she brightened at his greetings. "Hey. Where were you?"

"Just clearing my head. Where are we on Bobby?"

"Uniforms are searching his place. We're hoping to find something that'll break him." He held her gaze. His eyes were steely. Beckett could see that something was going on but couldn't read his expression. Before she could ask him, Esposito walked up to them. "FBI called with an update. The device used in Boylan Plaza was a pipe bomb. But here's the weird part. It wasn't packed with nails, ball bearings, or anything else."

"That is weird. Bombers usually add projectiles to maximize damage," Beckett replied.

"That's not the only way to maximize damage." Castle stated. His glare directed at her, threw Beckett off.

"Uh, so what was it triggered by? Cell phone? Trip wire?" She asked Esposito.

"A remote. Probably rigged from a garage door opener. But the range on those is only about 100 feet."

"So, whoever detonated it was in Boylan Plaza," Castle surmised.

"And I bet you we'll find that garage remote in Bobby's apartment." Beckett said just as the fourth member of their team comes to their desk.

"Ah … no such luck. But we did find credit cards with lots of different names on them." Kevin Ryan said and handed the bag to Castle.

"And we found some wallets." Ryan threw the bag to Esposito and held up another bag. "And some cell phones, too. In fact, one of those cell phones belonged to Andrew Haynes."

Beckett worked through it first. "Bobby's a pickpocket."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM**

"Yeah, I pretty much am." Bobby said and visibly relaxed.

"That's why you attended the takeover protests." Beckett said.

"All those people were hanging out, full of peace and brotherhood."

"It's like an all you can steal buffet," Castle said.

"You got that right." Bobby replied with a small smile on his face.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth from the start?" Beckett asked irritated.

"And what? Admit to a cop who likes me for murder that I'm a thief? Amnesia seemed like the better plan."

At those words, Castle chanced a look at his partner. "Yeah." At his tone Beckett looked at him, but Castle had already turned away. "So you lifted Andrew Haynes's phone, which is why it looked as if he planted the bomb." He said more to himself.

"Who's Andrew Haynes?" Bobby asked.

"Don't worry about that. Talk to me about the backpack. How did you get it?" Beckett asked.

"I lifted it." He said as if it was obvious. "It was just lying there between two dumpsters." He shook his head.

"I swear, I didn't know a bomb was in it." He paused, "I would never hurt anyone. Look, you gotta believe me." He pleaded with them.

Castle wasn't looking at him, instead he was deep in his own thoughts. Beckett took a second and pressed on.

"The man that you took the backpack from, is that him?" She put a picture of Jesse Friedman on the table.

Bobby recognized him instantly. "Yeah. That's – that's the guy."

"Are you sure?" Castle asked in a soft tone, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, that's him."

"That's Jesse Friedman. That's one of the victims." Castle said.

Beckett paused, rearranging the facts in her mind. "And he's a member of the movement."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would he attack his own people?" Castle asked to no one specific.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

A few minutes later, Castle studied the murder board, trying to make sense of the bombing. He tried to remember all of the statements from their witnesses. He tried to connect their stories and the facts and to tie them all together.

Beckett was talking on the phone, "Okay. Thank you." She hang up her phone and walked over to him.

"So, unis searched Jesse Friedman's place and they found research on how to build the same device that was used in Boylan Plaza." She walked over to him and leaned next to him at the table. He looked at her, trying to hold in his emotions. He willed himself to concentrate on the case.

"So Jesse blew up his own protest? Why would he do that?" He asked.

"Maybe to … get sympathy for his movement? Publicity?"

"And because he placed the bomb between two dumpsters he didn't –"

"- he didn't think that anyone would get hurt." She ended his sentence. "Then Bobby stole the backpack."

"If Jesse was worried about someone getting hurt, why would he set off the bomb?"

It's Esposito who answered his question. "I don't think he did. There was no remote on or near the body, which means someone else detonated it."

Ryan followed on. "Probably someone he knew. 30 seconds before the blast Jesse got a call on his cell from a burner cell. Then 2 seconds before the bomb went off he tried to call that same phone back."

"So then maybe Jesse had a partner and that's who triggered the bomb."

At this moment, Castle had a thought. He looked at the map on the murder board. "Espo, you said that remote had a range of about 100 feet, right?"

"Mmhmm."

"Whoever the partner was, he must have been here somewhere," Castle said and pointed to an area on the map, "close to the bomb blast, hidden amongst the crowd. We need to take another look at the sequence of events. Piece together the witness statements. The answer is in the story. So let's start at the beginning."

For the next minutes, they walked through the timeline again. Castle span the story. "Leann and her cameraman are setting up for their live broadcast. At the same time, Bobby's prowling the plaza. He sees Andrew Haynes haranguing the protesters. He's easy pickin's. So Bobby relieves him of his phone. Then, Bobby goes looking for his next business opportunity. He spots the blue backpack unattended, calling out to him. So he grabs it, blissfully unaware of what's inside. But Jesse sees him and he flips out. Bobby ducks out of sight. Jesse panics. The bomb is on the move. What's he gonna do? People are in danger. He grabs a man in the black hoodie, thinking it's the thief. But it's Andrew Haynes. Well by now, Bobby's decided taking the backpack wasn't such a good idea. So he ditches it and keeps moving. Bam. He knocks into Nadia, drawing the attention of the street drummer who's now by the coffee truck. Meanwhile, Jesse runs around the corner and sees the dumped backpack. He fumbles with his phone, dialing. He looks behind him while it rings. The bomb blows."

"Well, that's a nice story bro, but it still doesn't tell us who Jesse's partner is." Esposito interjected.

"Well it's gotta be whoever Jesse was on the phone with in the minutes before the bomb went off." Beckett said.

"How long was that first incoming call?" Castle asked and Ryan checked his folder. "Uh … 8 seconds."

"So that was probably the 'all systems go' call." Castle spoke on.

"Then after the backpack was stolen Jesse tried to make an 'all systems not go' call but he didn't get through in time." Ryan span on.

"Do any of the witnesses remember who Jesse was hanging out with?" Beckett asked.

Esposito flips through a folder. "Not yet but we're still reconstructing his movements based on statements on his friends –"

"Oh!" Castle had an epiphany. He pointed to a picture in Esposito's folder. "A Beethoven T-shirt." Castle turned to looked at the map on the board. "Call and response. I know who Jesse's partner is." The other looked at him silently willing him to go on.

"Bobby remembered hearing a Beethoven ringtone coming from nearby just before he stole the backpack. And Westside Wally said Beethoven showed up conducting his 5th Symphony. That was actually Jesse Friedman with his Beethoven T-Shirt and ringtone making his 'all systems go' call." The others nodded, that made sense to them. Castle continued to speak. "We know he was talking to someone within 100 feet and that call lasted 8 seconds, long enough for a call and response. A call and response to the one person who could broadcast the explosion live on television and bring the publicity that the movement needed." He paused again. "Leann West was on the other end of that phone."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM**

News footage of the broadcast was playing on a small screen.

"No I wasn't. I wasn't on the phone with anyone. I was talking to my cameraman. I already told the FBI the whole story." Leann denied the allegations.

"Yeah, except you left out a few details," Castle stated. Beckett's explained further, "Like the fact that you knew Jesse Friedman. The two of you went to Hudson University."

"Yeah, so did a lot of people."

"We're guessing the two of you reunited at the protest. You went out for drinks and you hatched a plan."

"He wanted media attention, you wanted to get promoted to the anchor desk."

"So you set up your cameras at the perfect vantage point."

"You waited until you went live and you detonated that bomb."

Leann looked at them incredulously. "What? That is insane. This is ridiculous and I will not listen to another word of it. We're done here." Leann moved to leave but Beckett slamed a bag with a cell phone in it on the table.

"Do you recognize that? That's the burner cell that you used to call Jesse."

"Found it in a storm drain about two block from Boylan Plaza. You know what else we found in there?" Castle held up another bag and set in on the table. "The remote you used to detonate the bomb." Leann began to panic.

"Small enough to hide in the palm of your hand. It's got your fingerprints all over it, Leann."

"How did you find that?"

"By tracking your movements after the explosion using your phone's GPS." Castle explained.

Leann paused. She realized that it was over, that the other two had her dead tor rights. "No one was supposed to get hurt. It was just going to make a lot of noise and people would start respecting me as a reporter but everything just went wrong."

"Why didn't you just come forward when you realized what you had done?" Beckett asked.

"I thought about it, but what good would that do? I kept quiet for Jesse." Leann continued in a low tone. "I wanted to protect his memory".

Castle got mad as she tried to explain herself. "Well, that's what your friend Jesse would call 'sinning by silence.'" He gave his partner a pointed look that Kate didn't notice. "It's not smart, it's not brave. It's just cowardly." His tone was harsh.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Later that evening Captain Gates had assembled the members of her precinct. "The FBI has taken Leann West into custody. This woman, whose blind ambition lead to the death of five people, will get what she deserves. I um, I want to thank each of you for what you did to make this happen. You all put into 110% and made me proud. So let's get out of here, head on home, and catch up on some much needed rest."

The group of people scattered, eager to get home. Castle said goodnight to some people as they passed him and walked to his three partners.

"You know what? I'm still kind of wired. Do you guys want to go out for a drink?" Beckett asked her male partners.

"Ah… sorry. I feels like a month since I've seen Jenny. I should really get home." Ryan apologized first, followed by Esposito. "Me too. I'm tanked. I'll holler at you."

They backed away and moved to leave the precinct. Castle gave them a goodnight nod and smile.

"So, I guess it's just us." She turned to Castle and smiled at him with that beguiling, open smile she used more and more in the past months. But it didn't have the usual effect on Castle. In fact, it had the opposite effect on the writer. Her immediate assumption that they were going out to get those drinks together without even so much as waiting on a response from him, clawed at something deep inside him. Richard Castle of this morning would have gladly taken the chance to go out drinking with Beckett. However, Richard Castle of this evening was hurt immensely.

"Yeah." He said coldly and grabbed his jacket. However, Kate didn't catch his mood. "You know, now that the case is done, what did you want to talk about?" She looked at him hopefully, trying to get them back to that place where they were before all the chaos had started. There was a pause. Castle was stuck, trying to figure out how to get out this moment without causing a scene. Despite his anger, he didn't want to have that confront, eh, conversation right now. She urged him with her eyes. He swallowed and forced a smile. "Nothing. Nothing important anyway." He said softly. Beckett smiled, but it was a tight smile. She was disappointed.

"I'm gonna head home. Night." Castle backed away and left without any other explanations. Beckett thought that his reaction was unlike him. "Good night." She replied.

Meanwhile, Castle headed to the elevator and waited for it to come. When it did, he entered the car and turned around. He watched as she put on her jacket. He shook his head and looked away. The elevator doors shut. He was alone, finally able to let the anger and hurt manifest on his face.

Beckett was confused. Something was off with her partner but she couldn't place it. She watched his dark expression until the elevator doors closed. He never once looked her way, and that just wasn't like him. However, there was nothing she could do right now. She tried to shrug it off and moved to leave as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** So, I got some reviews and PMs that stated that Chapter one wasn't all that much different from the canon episode. Well, duh… It was the first chapter of a brand new story, it's supposed to be the starting point to get the ball rolling. Still, as I go forward with my story, I am going to rehash many parts of the canon. But don't worry, I am going to deviate from established canon. This fic will be AU after all. Some changes will be obvious, some will be in the details. So, please be patient and I'll try to do my best to not disappoint you.

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter two**

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

Richard Castle sat in his darkened study, a bottle of Scotch in front him. He brought a glass to his lips and drank deeply. The liquid slid down his throat and he rejoiced in the burn. He slammed the empty glass down and reached for the bottle but stopped before grabbing it. The Richard Castle from a few years back would have sloshed more alcohol into his glass and drank himself in oblivion. However, the Richard Castle from today was another man. The past few years had changed him. More precisely, the years working with the NYPD had changed him. He knew that he had been drifting the last years before starting to work with them. Alexis had started to go to school and doing more and more with her friends. She hadn't needed him around 24/7, so he did have more time for himself. He was honest to himself and knew that having too much time to himself wasn't very good for him. He wasn't wired that way. He liked to be surrounded with people. So, he started to party more and more. He could have used the time to intensify his writing. But it was true what he had told Gina at the launch part of his last Derek Storm book: writing Derek used to be fun, in the end, it felt like working. And he hadn't worked much. Then one Detective Kate Beckett appeared and asked him to accompany her back to her precinct. And the rest, as they say, was history and he a changed man.

Despite what his mother and daughter (and possible some others) thought, it wasn't just because of his feelings for Beckett that had changed him. True, as time went by and his feelings grew, part of him wanted to be a better man than the party clown he had been when they first had met. However, a far greater factor for his change had been the fact that he realized that he could actually make an impact on people's life. That he could help them in their darkest hour, to bring them closure. In that way he was similar to Beckett. She had become a cop because she wanted to be a detective who did not commit what she felt was the investigating detective's mistake of "pigeon-holing" crimes. Like the one who had investigated her mother's case.

For him, it was a traumatic day in Hollander's Woods. He did not have closure from that experience, which featured prominently in his nightmares even until this day. Since that day he'd been fascinated with crimes, with the psychological part of crimes. That interest was fostered with watching a lot of police and P.I. shows on tv. Something that only a few people knew was that he had actually thought about going to the police academy. But then he had met and then impregnated Meredith. So, he had changed his plans and focused on his writing career. He didn't regret anything about that decision and he never would. Being loved by his daughter was his greatest achievement.

As time went by, he had dreamed about getting the chance to work with the police but never thought possibly. When it got the chance, it was literally like a dream come true. And despite what many people thought, he wasn't just the goofy sidekick. Yes, he downplayed his role to the outside and challenged the others on his team with his exaggerated theories. But he knew better, the statistic and facts told a very different story. The solving rate of his team alone went up a lot and more importantly, HE, Richard Castle, disarmed a fucking dirty bomb downtown New York and possible prevented the start of a new World War.

But despite all that, here he was, sitting alone in his study, a bottle of Scotch in front him. Beckett's previous exclamation in her interrogation of Bobby Lopez had thrown him. It wasn't the confession that Beckett had lied to him. That didn't really surprise him. Beckett may be able to lie to pretty much everyone else, but not to him. He knew her better than that. At the hospital after the shooting, she hesitated when he had enquired about what she remembered. In fact, she wouldn't even look at him. Instead her eyes had darted down and away. He knew then that she had been lying. He had for a second thought about confronting her, but had decided against that.

Her boyfriend Josh had just left the room. Rick had thought that there would be plenty of time to discuss it later. After she had left the hospital. But that didn't happen because Beckett left the hospital without anybody noticing it and wouldn't contact him for months.

He had been angry when she had visited him at the book-signing. He followed his first instinct and just left but then she had followed him. He had then thought about confronting her with her lie, but once again decided against it. He had then allowed her to say what was on her mind. Sitting on the swings his hopes went up and he had hold his peace. And after a while he even opened himself to the possibility, that maybe, Beckett had not lied at all. He had hoped that with time that she would open up more and that they would get closer. And they did. Or so he had thought. And then he had overheard her interrogation.

But what should he do now?

* * *

 **BECKETT'S APARTMENT**

It was girls' night at Beckett's apartment. Kate poured a glass of wine and handed it to her longtime friend Lanie Parish.

"I'm telling you. Something happened, something changed. He's been acting weird lately. It began right after the Boyan Plaza bombing. First, he didn't want to have drinks with me and just left. Without saying anything else. He has never done this before. Then, the next two days while the guys and I did our paperwork, he just sat there. He was unusually quiet, didn't say much. Well, when he actually sat at our desk. Most of the time he wasn't even there. And on the second day he left early without explanations and he hasn't come to the precinct since that day. He just sent a message that he'd been away for a few days and be back soon."

"He's been acting weird 'lately'?" Lanie asked in her typical sarcastic voice. "Kate, it's been weird for four years."

"No, this is different. He's different. It's like he's pulling away."

Lanie took a drink of her wine. "Well, can you blame him? He's probably tired of waiting."

Beckett startled at that observation but tried to play it off. "Waiting? Waiting for what?" She tried to give an innocent look that Lanie answered with raised eyebrows.

"What do you think? The guy is crazy about you. And despite your little act, you're crazy about him." Lanie stated firmly. Beckett tried to mask her impression but that didn't fool Lanie. "Oh, what? Was that supposed to be some big secret?" Lanie said, exasperation creeping in her voice at her obstinate friend.

Beckett glared at her friend. "Yes." Even to herself she sounded unconvincing. Lanie glared right back at her. "No." Beckett sat down at the bar next to Lanie and lowered her voice. "Do you think he knows?"

Lanie smiled brightly at the fact that her friend for the first time ever openly conceded her feelings for their favorite writer. "Do you remember how he used to be? Girl on either arm? You really don't see that guy too much anymore. Why do you think that is?" Beckett bit her lip but didn't respond verbally. "He's waiting for you." Lanie answered her own question.

A still silent Beckett allowed herself a small smile at her friend's statement. "Yeah, but Lanie –"

"I know. You're dealing with stuff. But you cannot ask him to wait forever." When Lanie didn't get an answer, she pressed on. "Unless, of course, you're okay with him pulling away."

"What if it doesn't work? What if it ends up like you and Javi?"

"Well, at least we gave it a shot. And it didn't work out. So what? Now we can move on, give or take the occasional booty call." Beckett smirked at that, she did know her friend well after all.

"I just – I don't want to lose what we have, you know?"

"Girl, please." Frustration creeping back into her voice. "What exactly do you have, really?"

Beckett paused at that question and thought for a second. "A friendship."

"No. What you and I have is a friendship. What you and Castle have is a holding pattern. How long can you circle before the fuel runs out?"

Beckett quietly considered Lanies question when her phone rang. "Beckett."

Lanie watched on as Kate got information on a new crime scene. She gave Beckett one last pointed look.

* * *

 **OUTSIDE ALEXANDRIA MOTEL**

They drove mostly silently to the crime scene, both preparing mentally for what they would see and would have to do. They made their way to the crime scene when Lanie picked up their conversation from earlier. "Don't think you were saved by the bell, Kate Beckett. As your friend, I'm not going to let it drop." She said and ducked under the crime scene tape as the detective followed.

"So, what? You think I should tell him how I feel?"

"Yes!" Lanie said forcefully. "You hunt murderers for a living. You can do this."

"Okay. Okay. I just, I – I have to find the right time."

"No time like the present."

At that exact moment Castle's red Ferrari zoomed up at the crime scene. Kate and Lanie turned at the noise and saw Rick in the driver's seat, an attractive blonde woman in the seat next to him. Both women were shocked.

"What the… ?" Lanie exclaimed. Kate turned to her friend and gave her a pointed look.

"On second thought, maybe you should wait a bit. What's that? Ryan's calling? I – gotta go." Lanie said and hastily made her way towards the building. A now alone Beckett turned to Castle, waiting for her partner to come to work. She looked on when the blonde woman exited the car and scurried around to the driver's side. There Rick was waiting for her and shut the door after she's got in.

"I'll call you in about an hour." Castle said to the woman and gave her a peck on the cheek. Becketts face tightened as the blonde zoomed away. Rick looked on with a smile on his face as the woman drove away in his Ferrari, turned and walked over to Beckett.

"Hey there." He greeted her happily, despite the anger he was still feeling towards Beckett.

"I feel like I just walked into a bad episode of Miami Vice." Beckett said, rather coolly.

"Okay. First, there are no bad episodes of Miami Vice. Second, who died?"

"You, from the looks of it. You look like you just got run over by a truck." Beckett said and they walked over to the crime scene.

"Yeah, a truck delivering a shipment of awesome. Nah, I just, uh, flew into Vegas for a few days. Just needed a little change of scenery."

"And you won the blonde in a high stakes poker match?" Kate asked sarcastically.

"No, I met her on the flight back." Ricks replied like he hadn't noticed her tone.

"And you just gave her your car?," Beckett asked disbelievingly.

"Abby happens to be a very trustworthy person. It's not like I gave her my social security number."

Beckett looked at him incredulously. She was confused and not a little appalled at his behavior and his cool tone.

"Castle –" Kate stopped walking and turned to him – "is everything okay?"

Rick stopped. He tried to force down all the emotions he was feeling. Even after a few days away he was still angry. "Never better." He walked towards the crime scene and left his confused partner behind. Beckett watched him go for a moment and then followed him. There was no time to think about her partners' odd behavior now. There was a lot of work to do.

 **MOTEL ROOM**

When Beckett entered the hotel room, she paused for a moment to take in the scene. Esposito walked up to her. "Our victim's Naomi Allen, age 25. Her green card indicates she's a British national. Ryan's notifying the consulate."

Kate looked at a paper in his hands. "Her address is in SoHo. What was she doing all the way down here?"

"Don't know, but she checked in two hours before she was killed."

"Hope they prorated the room." Castle said from the side where he was standing. His random comment got a look from Beckett as he walked away. Esposito had more information to pass on to Kate. "Good news is we have a witness. The maid who discovered the body saw a guy run out."

"Did the maid get a good look?"

"She's with the sketch artist now."

"Well then, whoever he is he was looking for something." Kate indicated the mess. "This place has been searched."

"One thing we do know is that she was not robbed. Her wallet, watch, and cash were untouched." Beckett nodded and walk on. She stopped to talk with the medical examiner. "Hey Lanie, how does it look?"

"Like you waited too long," Lanie deadpanned.

"The vic." Beckett said exasperated. Lanie sighed, but complied. "She was strangled, but she went down with a fight. Prelim suggests signs of a struggle." The medical examiner pointed to a bruise under the victim's eye. "She took one to the face."

"A well dressed, attractive woman in a seedy motel and a guy who flees the crime scene. This might have been a one-night stand gone wrong."

"Are we talking about the victim or Castle?" Lanie asked and ignored her friends glare. She was used to it after all.

"Hey Espo?" Beckett stood up and turned to the Latino detective.

"Yeah."

"Can you contact the next of kin and canvass the area once the sketch is done?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Hey Beckett." Ryan walked in and greeted his team leader.

"Found the vic's business card in the side pocket of her purse." Ryan bagged the card. "Looks like she works in Manhattan."

Castles walked up and took the bag from Ryan. "Naomi Allen, Kittman Group."

 **KITTMAN GROUP OFFICES**

Castle and Beckett drove mostly silent to the offices of the Kittman Group. Beckett was still confused – and a little angry at the return of playboy Castle. Castle on the other hand was working through possible scenarios for the murder. They only updated each other on the facts that they had each learned so far.

In the office, a woman sat in an armchair across from Castle and Beckett. "Yes, I was her US booking agent. Naomi was one of our top models," said Claire Panchard.

"So she was in the city for work?" Beckett asked.

"She split her time between here and London. The good ones usually end up spending half the year in New York."

"Do you have any idea why she was at the Alexandria Motel last night?"

"Uh, no. I've never even heard of it."

"It's one of those … um… pay by the hour places," Castle pointed out delicately. Claire didn't say anything but her eyes grew wider. Beckett noticed the reaction. She handed over the sketch made from the description the maid had given them. "Do you recognize this man?"

"No. No, I don't." She handed the sketch back.

Beckett studied her. "But you do have an idea of who he might be."

"It's just …" - Claire paused - "lately Naomi was making some odd choices."

"What kind of choices?" Beckett asked.

"Well, she seemed to have lost interest in standard modeling jobs. Recently she had been booking more ,uh …, unconventional gigs."

"Like what?"

"Well I heard the London office booked her to attend the birthday party of some foreign dignitary a few months ago." Beckett looked to Castle, who was mostly quiet. He got it immediately.

"She was hired to go to a party?"

"It's common for models to get hired to pretty up an event. Some girls do it to pick up extra cash and other girls do it as a way of connecting with wealthy men."

"Wait, are you saying Naomi was hiring herself out as an escort?"

"You just don't see girls as good as Naomi taking these party jobs. Not unless there's a bigger payout involved somewhere."

"Do you know if she took on any of these kinds of gigs recently?"

"It's not really what we do." Beckett nodded. "She did want me to try to get her into an event last night, though. An album launch party in Midtown. But I didn't have any connections to it."

"Last night?"

"Yeah."

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Back at the precinct, Castle and Beckett sat at their desk. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Beckett asked Castle.

"Yeah, that we should throw a party and hire a bunch of models." Castle replied without hesitation.

"No." Beckett looked at him oddly. "That maybe Naomi somehow got into that party last night and that that's where she met her killer." Beckett put the sketch on the murder board. "That's what I was thinking."

"Weird. We're usually more in sync than that," Castle deadpanned. There was a moment of silence. A silence that Beckett found increasingly awkward and Castle didn't really care about. To end the silence, she turned to Ryan. "Hey Ryan, did you find anything at Naomi's apartment?"

"No, but someone else might have. It's been tossed. Not only that, but the neighbor said that he saw a man leaving the apartment late last night. The neighbor ID'd him off the sketch. It's the same guy who fled the murder scene."

"He couldn't find what he was looking for in the motel so he searched her place," Castle surmised.

"Yeah, but this time he left a footprint." Ryan told them.

"Meaning?" Beckett wants to know.

"Well, unis canvassed around the apartment with the sketch. He bought a bottle of single malt with a credit card a couple of blocks away." He handed her the paper, which she read.

"Colin Hunt. What do we have on him?"

"Nothing in the system but I ran a trace on the credit card. He checked in to the Mondaray in SoHo this morning."

 **MONDARAY HOTEL**

A hotel employee walked Castle and Beckett to the room where their suspect was staying. Beckett drew her gun and took the keycard the man held out to her. She opened the door and paused a minute before she entered. Hunt walked out the bathroom, only glad with a towel around his waist. Beckett raised her gun. "NYPD! Show me your hands."

"You're making a mistake."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before. Hands in the air, now!," she said more forcefully.

Hunt rolled his eyes. "If you insist." When Hunt raised his hands, the knot of his towel slipped free and the towel fell to the floor.

"Whoa!" Castle exclaimed and put his hand in front of his face to block his own line of sight. "Dude." He looked back. "Whoa." In another life Castle might have attempted to protect his partners honor. In this life however, he didn't even think about blocking Beckett's view. Beckett didn't move, nonplussed by the naked man in front of her. "Allow me to introduce myself. Detective Inspector Colin Hunt, Scotland Yard."

A few moments later Beckett checked the credentials, Hunt had presented her with. "You're a long way from home, Detective Inspector Hunt. How did you end up in that dead girl's hotel room?"

Hunt dressed, seemingly not caring that Beckett was sitting in front of him. "I was at a seminar last night in DC when Naomi called me, panicked. She said that she was in trouble and needed my help."

"So you knew her?," Castle wanted to clarify.

"Naomi was like a sister to me. Her dad, Terrence, was my first partner on the job. When he passed away, I promised her family I'd look after her. After she called me, I grabbed the next flight but by the time I arrived it was too late," Hunt explained his relationship to the victim.

"And your first instinct was to flee the crime scene?" Beckett asked sarcastically.

"I didn't flee. I left. She was dead. There was nothing else to do."

"Yeah. Except to maybe hang around and give the police a statement."

"You and I both know that if I had stuck around it would be hours of questioning and then you'd send me off with a 'cheers, we'll keep you posted'."

"But I suppose you had something more important to do?"

"The room had been searched. And whoever killed her was looking for something. I thought they might try her apartment next. By the time I got there, it had already been tossed. Look, I know that I shouldn't have been investigating. However, if you were in a foreign country and someone you loved had been killed, what would you do?"

Castle and Beckett shared a look. They both knew what she would do. She did behave similar after Royce had been killed. Castle turned to Hunt. "What were they looking for?"

"When he was on the job, Naomi's dad used to stash a gun in the lining of his Kevlar. When Naomi started modeling as a teenager, he didn't want her on the underground without any protection. So he taught her to cut a tiny piece of lining in her jacket to stash pepper spray. That's where I found it."

"You found what?" Beckett wants to know.

"A message to me. About her killer."

"What kind of message?" Castle asked.

Hunt studied them. "Not until I'm on the case."

"Excuse me?" Beckett asked indignantly.

"Detective, please. I owe this to Naomi. I owe it to her family."

"You do realize that I could arrest you for withholding evidence," she replied angrily.

"And since you don't know what that evidence is, I could deny it. And none of that will get us any closer to catching her killer." He paused and continued serious. "Let me work this case with you. Because if you don't, I swear, I'll go out there and catch the bastard on my own."

She took a second. "Okay. But I have to check in with my Captain first."

Castle was shocked that Beckett agreed so easily. In the past, she had blown a casket when another detective or agency tried to be involved in their investigation. However, this time she barely put on a fight. Was it because of the rather attractive British inspector? Castle felt the familiar jealousy flare up but pressed down on it. Hard.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Beckett was in Victoria Gate's office where she tried to convince her captain to let Hunt work the case with them. Castle and Hunt watched them through the window.

"What's she like, your Captain?"

"You ever see that YouTube video of the grizzly bear that decapitates a moose with one swipe of its paw?" Castle deadpanned.

Hunt cringes. "Comforting."

"It's nothing personal. She just doesn't like outsiders in her precinct." They turned back to watch through the window.

"I don't need her to like it. I just need her to allow it. This whole thing with Naomi doesn't add up. Turning down conventional modeling jobs, booking sleazy jobs at private parties - that just doesn't sound like the Naomi I know."

At those words Castle glared in the captain's office. "Yeah well, sometimes it's the people we think we know best that we really don't know at all." Castle watched Beckett talking with Gates. He saw that the women had finished their conversation. The men stood up when Beckett came out of her captain's office. "Well… you're in." Beckett said simple.

Hunt nodded. "Thank you."

"What?" Castle exclaimed and looked at Hunt. "Seriously?" He asked incredulously and a bit outraged.

"Yeah, his supervisor at Scotland Yard said you're one of the best. Even Captain Gates was impressed with your record." Beckett explained.

"Well, I guess it's not outsiders she doesn't like." He sighed. "It's just me." Castle said dejected and angrily turned to glare at Gates through the window.

Beckett turned to Hunt. "Look, we had a deal. What did Naomi give you?"

Hunt pulled a keychain from his pocket and hands it over. "This."

"A key? You said she left a message." Castle asked.

"This is the message. She put it there for me to find. I guarantee it has something to do with her death."

"This looks commercial," Beckett stated.

"It's an Arco-Rifkin 1130R. Mostly used for lockers found at train stations or health clubs." Hunt explained.

"All right. Well, I'll have Ryan canvass the area around her apartment and the hotel. We'll see if any of the businesses have lockers that use this kind of key."

"Yo, Beckett, I got something." Esposito interrupted them.

"Hey, uh, Detective Esposito, this is Detective Inspector Colin Hunt. He's from Scotland Yard. He's going to be consulting on this case. He knows our victim."

Esposito stepped forward to shake his hand. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Pleasure mate."

"So, what do you got?" Beckett asked her partner.

"Well, Naomi did make it to that album release party last night at a club in Midtown. But she was kicked out by security around 10 o'clock."

"Why?" Hunt asked.

"She had an altercation with the host." Esposito pulled out a photo and added it to the board. "Female rapper and ex-felon Nikki J. And she wasn't afraid to take a swing in front of paparazzi."

"Wow. What was the fight about?" Castle wanted to know.

"Unclear, but uniforms are bringing her up to interrogation now."

Castle phone buzzed, he looked at his message on his phone. Beckett was busy looking through paperwork.

"Do you usually question them solo?" Hunt asked.

"No, Castle and I usually go in together."

"Actually, you know what? Why don't you guys take this one?" Castle said a bit absentmindedly.

Beckett looked up, surprised. Usually he wanted to accompany her to every interview. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Absolutely. Besides, Colin's got a personal interest. I really don't, now do I?"

Beckett didn't know what to make of his comment.

"Hah, all right. It's settled then." Hunt said.

Beckett still looked shocked. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Yeah. Besides, my lunch date is here." Castle said and started to leave. "I'll be back in a few hours. You guys call me if you find anything interesting."

Beckett and Esposito watched as Castle met up with the same blonde woman from earlier and saw him wrap his arm around her. They both smiled as he led her away. Beckett's face dropped.


	3. Chapter 3

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** " _good luck, and enjoy the caskett fangirl's flames and PM's. it a sign that you have a good story. it pisses them off when you go after Beckett. The more hate mail you get the better the Non-Caskett story is."_

You know, when I read TheBlackHand724 review of my first chapter, I thought he was kidding. But now, just after publishing two INTRODUCTIONARY chapters, I come to realize what he meant… I mean, check out some of those reviews.

For example, look at "Exasperated", who cowardly hid his or her words behind a "guest" review:

" _I wish there was a separate FF thread for people who want to write Beckett-hate stories, and Caskett-hate stories. I get that it is your perogative to do so. I just don't understand why someone would choose to do this? If you dislike the characters and pairing so much, write about a different show. What does it say about you personally, and all those who wallow in the hate, to gleefully write, publish, and discuss the characters in this manner."_

To be honest with you, I was more than a bit surprised at those words for multiple reasons. Firstly, I thought this thing we authors were doing was called writing "FANFICTION". I looked up some definitions. Nowhere does it say that someone had to follow the canon pairings… So, his or her statement that " _If you dislike the characters and pairing so much, write about a different show"_ doesn't make much sense to me. I thought, taking the canon characters and plotlines and work them the way you like them was one of the main reasons why so many people around the world enjoy writing and reading fanfiction… How stupid of me to think otherwise…

Secondly, nowhere does it say in any definition that bashing of some characters isn't allowed. In fact, in the tens if not hundreds of thousands fics I have read over the years, a common thread was the bashing of various characters. To my mind, it is the authors prerogative how he characterizes the people in his fic. Again, that's why it is called "FANFICTION". Obviously, I may have been operating under a misconception…

Moreover, I wondered where this and another guest reviewer have read anything about me "hating" Beckett. As many reviewers correctly pointed out, I have mostly rehashed the canon storyline so far. Although, I tried to emphasize the emotional state of mostly Castle and a bit of Beckett – but that's not the point at the moment. So, how the esteemed guest reviewers came to the conclusion that I hated Beckett at this point of my fic, is far beyond my comprehension… Because then, as I was just more or less repeating the storyline, you would have to come to the conclusion that the authors of the series did hate Beckett, too. Wouldn't you?

Well, let's move on to "Exasperated" last sentence " _What does it say about you personally, and all those who wallow in the hate, to gleefully write, publish, and discuss the characters in this manner."_ I like to repeat those words to him/her: What does it say about you personally, and all those who wallow in the hate, to gleefully write, publish, and discuss the author and his or her work in this manner? What does it say about you and your life, that you get so emotional involved about the words someone writes about a **fictional** character in a **fictional** show?

It's reviews like that which are the reason why a lot of fanfiction authors get disheartened and why some of them consider to stop writing or even have stopped - even those who are/were active writers for more than a decade.

People, don't get me wrong. You can tell me that my grammar sucks. I know it's true. You don't like my style? Nothing I can do about that – it is my style after all. Feel free to not read my stuff. You can tell me that you don't like my plot or the chosen pairing. That's your right, though once again, nobody forces you to read my story.

In fact, I am one of those readers who stops reading a fic if I do not like it for whatever reason. However, I would never dream about leaving such a hateful review!

Again, I have absolutely nothing against constructive criticism. However, I draw the line at personal attacks. Especially, if they are cowardly hidden behind a 'guest review'! That, I couldn't let stand as it was. So, I apologize for my long winded A/N, but I needed to get that off my chest.

Finally, a fair warning: If you think that my characterization of Beckett was bad until this point, you haven't read anything yet. It will get worse! So, to repeat the famous words that innumerable fanfic authors have used before: you don't like my story, don't f*** read it!

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter three**

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Castle was watching Beckett speak to Gates in the Captain's office. He was wondering why it did take them so long. Previously, the Captain as well as Beckett would make immediately a fuss if anyone had tried to poach in on one of their investigations.

"What's she like, your Captain?", Detective Inspector Colin Hunt asked. Castle pondered how to answer the Englishman's question. He did not have a very good impression of Captain Victoria Gates. In fact, it was pretty low. He knew that his opinion was compromised because of her attempts to keep him out of the 12th precinct and her ongoing disparaging of his actions and skills in the teams investigations. He also had a lot of problems with the Captain's management skills. Not only in regards of Beckett's team. He had observed her working with other teams and in his wanderings in the precinct had heard several detectives talk about the captain. There was a lot of rumbling throughout the ranks. It was obvious, that she didn't have the personality or skills of the late Roy Montgomery. So, there were a lot of ways to answer that question. However, despite his negative feelings about the Captain, Castle decided on a more "diplomatic" answer towards the outsider.

"You ever see that YouTube video of the grizzly bear that decapitates a moose with one swipe of its paw?" Castle deadpanned. The other man cringed. "Comforting."

Castle sighed. "It's nothing personal. She just doesn't like outsiders in her precinct."

"I don't need her to like it. I just need her to allow it. This whole thing with Naomi doesn't add up. Turning down conventional modeling jobs, booking sleazy jobs at private parties - that just doesn't sound like the Naomi I know."

Those words struck a chord within Castle and glared at Beckett. "Yeah well, sometimes it's the people we think we know best that we really don't know at all." At that point, both men saw that the women had finished their conversation. Beckett came out of her captain's office and walked straight towards them.

"Well… you're in," Beckett simple said to Hunt. "Thank you."

Castle couldn't believe what he had heard. "What? Seriously?" Castle exclaimed incredulously and a bit outraged.

"Yeah, his supervisor at Scotland Yard said you're one of the best. Even Captain Gates was impressed with your record." Beckett explained.

"Well, I guess it's not outsiders she doesn't like." Castle sighed. "It's just me," he said dejected and angrily turned to glare at Gates through the window. He couldn't believe the nerve of that woman. Here was a man who was an officer of the law that had previously withheld crucial information on their murder investigation. Instead of raising hell, the Captain just more or less rolled-over. However, despite his years working in the precinct and working with the woman for a few months now, she was always lurking in the background hoping to catch him in a mistake so that she could get rid of him. He knew through various sources that she had tried twice to do so even after the Major had intervened on his behalf after Beckett's return. Beckett interrupted his musings when she asked about the clue the victim had supposedly left Inspector Incredible. Castle focused on the keychain Hunt pulled out from his pocket.

"A key? You said she left a message," Castle asked incredulously and not a little infuriated.

"This is the message. She put it there for me to find. I guarantee it has something to do with her death."

"This looks commercial," Beckett stated.

"It's an Arco-Rifkin 1130R. Mostly used for lockers found at train stations or health clubs," Hunt explained.

"All right. Well, I'll have Ryan canvass the area around her apartment and the hotel. We'll see if any of the businesses have lockers that use this kind of key."

"Yo, Beckett, I got something." Esposito interrupted them.

"Hey, uh, Detective Esposito, this is Detective Inspector Colin Hunt. He's from Scotland Yard. He's going to be consulting on this case. He knows our victim."

Esposito stepped forward to shake his hand. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Pleasure mate."

"So, what do you got?" Beckett asked her partner.

"Well, Naomi did make it to that album release party last night at a club in Midtown. But she was kicked out by security around 10 o'clock."

"Why?" Hunt asked.

"She had an altercation with the host." Esposito pulled out a photo and added it to the board. "Female rapper and ex-felon Nikki J. And she wasn't afraid to take a swing in front of paparazzi."

"Wow. What was the fight about?" Castle wanted to know. That sounded like a promising lead.

"Unclear, but uniforms are bringing her up to interrogation now."

Castle phone buzzed, he looked at his message on his phone. He knew the number and instantly knew that the message would be important. _"Think we found him. Call you later with details."_ Castle closed his eyes. This was good, no, it was great news. He hoped that it was true. They were looking for their target for a while now. He was getting excited.

"Do you usually question them solo?" Castle heard Hunt ask Beckett.

"No, Castle and I usually go in together."

At this moment Castle made a snap decision. "Actually, you know what? Why don't you guys take this one?"

"Are you sure?" Beckett asked.

Castle really didn't want to hang around Inspector Incredible more than he actually needed. Or Beckett for that matter. "Yeah. Absolutely. Besides, Colin's got a personal interest. I really don't, now do I?" Castle said and looked up just to see his lunch date arriving.

"Hah, all right. It's settled then." Hunt said.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Beckett replied.

"Yeah. Besides, my lunch date is here. I'll be back in a few hours. You guys call me if you find anything interesting." Castle stood up and left to greet his friend.

* * *

He walked up to his friend and wrapped his arm around her. "Hey Abby, you look great, as always. You have good timing, I'm hungry." And she did indeed look good. Abigail Gibson, or Abby for friends and family, was a tall woman with blue eyes. Her long blonde hair was pulled up in a tight bun. She was dressed in a short grey dress and a black blazer. She loved fashion and could have been a model. Instead she chose to become a fashion designer, working with her grandparents.

"Hey Rick," Abby greeted him with a smile. "Thanks again for letting me borrow your car. It did save me a lot of time."

"You're welcome." They had surprisingly met at the airport, well she had run into him, quite literally. She had apologized and told him that she thought that she would be late for an appointment. When they realized that they would go the same way, he had offered her to use his car.

"So, where are we going?"

"I called Carrie's earlier. I hope that's alright with you?"

"Great," Abby exclaimed, "I haven't been there in ages."

They made their way to the car and then to the restaurant. When they got to the café, they walked up to the hostess. The young woman immediately recognized Rick. Not only was she a fan of his books, but he was a regular guest.

"Mr. Castle, it nice to see you again. You have your usual table."

"Thanks, Mandy."

They walked to their table and ordered something to drink.

"So, Abby. How are your grandparents doing?"

"They are getting older, but still they are healthy. They miss you though and would like it, if you were to visit them."

"That's great. I miss them, too." He really did. Gino Rossetti and his wife Mary were long-time friends. He had been a teenager when he met them for the first time. One day he had been out looking for a summer job when he had found an out of the way little shop tucked into a small gap between two big stores, its sign read "Gino's hand-made suits". Looking at the shop he could actually tell it was old. The shop was dark and very manly with its dark green wallpaper and dark wood floors and display cases. Almost everything in the shop was made of dark wood and dark green leather. The few things that were metal in the shop were made of shiny brass, and even though it was midday outside, the shop was bar room dark with most of the light coming from the bright display cases. There were just a few racks of suits on one side of the small shop and shirts and ties in the light cases on the other side.

A short older gentleman sat behind the counter reading the newspaper. He wore a three piece gray suit that to his teenage mind had looked both old and very classy. The man had jet black hair except for the sides of his head which were bright white, and it was slicked back. He looked like one of those old gangster from a prohibition era mob movie his mother liked to watch. He had commented on that which drew a laugh from the man. They talked for a while and he had started his new summer job the next day. It was the start of a very long friendship. He met Abby more than 20 years ago, when she had only been six years old. Her parents had been killed in a car accident and so she started to live with her grandparents. He even used to babysit her a few times and in turn, she used to babysit Alexis when neither he nor his mother could watch over his daughter.

In the following minutes they ordered their food and caught up in their respective lives as they haven't seen each other for a while. Abby told him that business was doing well. Growing up with her grandparents and spending most of her time in her grandfather's shop it hadn't come as a surprise that she developed an interest in the fashion business. When her grandfather had told her that she could do whatever she wanted to do, she told him without hesitation that she wanted to work in the family business. So, they re-named the shop into "Rossetti's" and started to offer women's clothes, too.

Rick was happy to see that his friends were doing so well. He promised to come by their shop and to up-date his wardrobe soon. In turn, Rick proudly told her about Martha's acting school and the fact that Alexis had been chosen as valedictorian.

* * *

"So Rick, what's going on in your life? Still having fun playing cop?" She asked him with a smile. Outside of his own family, the Rossetti's were some of the only people who knew of his teenage plans of becoming a cop. They were delighted when Rick told them that he would be working with the police. Right from the beginning, Abby had good-heartedly teased him about "playing cop". Rick knew that they were happy for and proud of him.

Contrary to previous occasions, this time that question didn't bring a smile in his face. In fact, Abby noticed, that Rick lost his smile immediately. "What's wrong, Rick?"

"Nothing is wrong..." He started to deny but stopped when he saw her glaring eyes. It was the same look her grandmother Mary had when she knew that he had done something wrong or wouldn't tell the truth.

"Okay, no reason to look at me like that." He sighed. He knew that he would have to tell her something. "Well, it's been rough few months. Montgomery's death and Beckett's shooting took a tall from all of us. For some reason the new Captain doesn't like me much and I had to involve the Mayor again to stay on as a consultant. I know that she's watching me and waiting for a mistake so that she can get rid of me. That and the various investigations are a lot of stress. It's not as much fun as it used to be."

Abby frowned. When she had asked him similar questions in the past, he would regale her with tales about what he and his partner slash muse had experienced throughout some of their investigations. You could practically feel the joy and happiness in those tales. This time he just mentioned negative feelings.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Rick."

Castle sighed. "Yeah, me too."

"Is that the reason why you don't seem to be in a hurry to get back to the precinct?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in the past, you would check your phone for updates on your investigations every few minutes. And while you weren't impolite, it always seemed like you were eager to go back to the precinct as soon as possible."

Castle frowned and thought about Abby's words. He thought back to the last times they had met. He was sorry to realize that what she had said was true. "Well, I guess you're right. I'm sorry about that."

Abby put her right hand on his. "Don't be. We all were and still are very happy that one of your dreams came true and you could work with the police." Rick took her hand in has and pressed a bit to show his appreciation for her words.

"But tell me, Rick, did anything happen today? As I said, normally you're more focused on your investigations than you now."

Castle sighed. "Well, it started relatively normal and we got the necessary facts. Routine, you know. Then we learned that a witness had seen someone fleeing the crimes scene and that the same guy later searched the victims' apartment. An officer later found out who he was and where he was staying. So, Beckett and I went to his motel. There we found the suspect leaving his bathroom, glad only with a towel. The guy introduced himself as a Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard. Then he had the nerve to purposely drop his towel in front of Beckett. The whole thing had been very inappropriate and the guy was so smug about it." Rick paused to sip on his drink.

"Then the guy wanted to get involved in the investigation. That's bad enough, but he did it by blackmailing Beckett with withholding evidence. And Beckett agreed to it, just like that. In the past, she blew a casket when another detective or agency had tried to be involved in our investigation. However, this time she didn't do anything. There had been no questions and no objections. She didn't even ask me, her partner, if it were alright. Then, at the precinct, even our Captain didn't raise any objections. She let him in on our investigations without objections. It seemed that Gates was even impressed with the guy's record." Castle paused and sighed again. "You know, I previously thought that the woman didn't like outsiders in her precinct but it turns out, that she just doesn't like me."

Abby listened to his tale and wondered why he still worked there if he wasn't welcomed. She decided to ask him directly. "Why do you go back when you're so unhappy there? I mean, you could probably go to any precinct and work with another detective? Surely, your friend the Mayor would help you. And don't say it is because of your research. I know you well enough to know that you have enough material to write many more books for your Heat-series."

Rick paused for a moment and thought about that. Why did he go back there? Most of his previous reasons weren't valid anymore. Abby was right, he could work in any precinct he wanted. When he had talked to Bob about Gates throwing him out of the precinct, the Mayor had even told him so. That meant, he could still work as a consultant. In the past, he had never even contemplated the offer. He wanted to work with Beckett and nobody else. First, research was the main reason, then his feelings for the detective were the main factor for his decisions. However, now after the past few days - especially after he had heard Beckett's confession - he realized that those weren't his main reasons anymore. What he told Beckett this morning was right, he had been in Las Vegas the past few days. What he failed to mention was that he had been in meetings most of the time. Meetings that he didn't want to have in New York, so that prying eyes wouldn't find out about them. The plans that had been made there didn't need him to stay at the precinct. Rick was honest to himself, he didn't look forward to seeing Beckett everyday anymore. So, he had to think more about his future and adept his plans. He looked to his friend.

"You're right, Abby. I don't have to go back there." He took out his phone and sent Beckett a message, telling her that he wouldn't come back to the precinct. For the first time in a while, he didn't feel bad about leaving her a man short during an investigation. After all, she had the help of Detective Inspector Colin Hunt, Scotland Yard.

* * *

A/N: As mentioned above, some of you criticized that I've mostly rehashed canon so far and that you knew what would happen after "47 seconds" and the following episodes. That's true. However, while I am still going to incorporate cannon plots, I'm happy to say that this is the time when we start to go AU.


	4. Chapter 4

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** You know, I thought about responding to some insulting critiques I got, just like I did in the previous chapter. In the end, I decided that it is just not worth it, because stupid people will continue to write stupid things whether I answer to them or not.

However, I want to thank everyone who left me a encouraging review or PM telling me in one way or another, that they enjoy reading my story. I appreciate it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter four**

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

A week after his lunch with Abby, Castle was sitting at his desk. Although he hadn't gone back to the precinct, he hadn't been idle either. He had met with the people who had contacted him during the Naomi Allen investigation. They informed him that they believed that they found the person Castle had contracted them to find. They wanted him to corroborate their finding. They had gone over the evidence and in the end they all decided that they had found the right person. After that they had spoken in length about the next steps and decided that his contractors would keep on surveilling the target for a few days and find as much information as possible.

The following two days Castle locked himself in his office to think about his life. He couldn't get Abby's question out of his mind. _"Why do you go back when you're so unhappy there?",_ she had asked. His discussion with Abby had forced him to confront some of the thoughts that had been at the back of his mind for a while now, especially after hearing Beckett's confession. He was still angry with himself for not trusting his instincts and letting himself believe that she really didn't remember his declaration of love. Well, he couldn't change that now, but he could make different changes in his life.

Despite what most people thought of him, he wasn't the rich but immature and childish socialite known for his parties and rather wild lifestyle. That playboy persona was a character that he had developed to boost his career – although he was honest to himself, there were times when he had gotten lost in that persona. However, what only a select few people knew was that Richard Castle was a careful man who had a plan for his life. It hadn't started like that. In fact, after his first book "In a Hail of Bullets" had become a bestseller, he blew through all the money in a matter of just six months. Afterwards he decided that that would never happen again. Especially, as he knew that there was a real possibility that his writing career could come to a sudden end when people would stop buying his books. So, he had sat down and made some sort of life plan. That plan grew and he had adjusted it over the years to what it was today, hidden from sight on his smart-board. One part of his plan was that he decided to learn as much about business as he could while writing. In the end, Richard Castle had become a shrewd business man with different and diverse investments which made him one of the richest man in the country.

So, for two days he had worked in conclave with himself and adjusted his plan. He had made some tough decision that he knew wouldn't sit well with some people. His predictions proved to be right when had gotten into a rather heated argument with his publisher, his ex-wife Gina. Well, it couldn't be helped, he had decided on the way forward and he would do anything to reach his goals.

Castle knew that he had to concentrate on his writing to reach his deadline. That is why he was sitting at his desk, acting out some sort of scene while playing with a toy dinosaur and a Barbie doll.

"You are very beautiful, Nikki Heat. It is too bad I have to kill you now," Castle said in an accented voice of the dinosaur. "Uglier men than you have tried, Draco," he replied as the Barbie and slapped the dinosaur with the Barbie doll. Then he switched to the voice of the dinosaur, "You have slapped me. Now I will have to –"

"Playing with dolls, are we?" Castle looked up to see his mother standing in the threshold to his office, smirking.

"These are action figures," he replied indignantly.

"Ah." What else could Martha say?

"I'm using them to envision a scene. I need to finish off 'Frozen Heat', but I'm not really in the mood to write a page."

"Yes, I now. I just got off the phone with your ex-wife."

"Judging by the lack of screaming and swearing, I'm guessing that you don't mean Meredith." He quipped.

"No," she said and walked more into her son's office. "Gina asked me to remind you that your final manuscript is due on next Tuesday. She's still angry with you and that's why she called me."

"Yeah, I figured."

"You're sure that you made the right decision?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Maybe, if you talked to Beckett …."

"Mother…," Castle sighed heavily. His face darkened for a moment and Martha noticed it. She put up her hands in the universal sign for surrender. Castle saw her carrying something.

"Is that the mail?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Martha handed the post over. "Thank God Alexis is finally getting some college acceptance letters. Her friends started getting those weeks ago."

Castle took a stack of letters and put them in a drawer on his desk.

"Richard Castle, what on Earth are you playing at?" She asked aghast.

"I don't want Alexis to have to live through that Stanford rejection nightmare again so I'm holding the letters. This way she gets them all at once and she'll get all the good news with the bad." He said, obviously proud of his logic, although Martha wasn't. "Richard, that is the dumbest idea you've ever had and that is telling something. Now, you've got to give her these letters before she has a nervous breakdown." Martha moved to get the letters out of the drawer but he stopped her.

"Okay. I will, I will. Though you have to admit, watching her have a nervous breakdown is pretty funny."

"Unlike yours." Castle smile fell instantly. "Now, what are we going to do about your writing?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just need something … different. Something new. Something like…"

"Severed heads?" Martha asked and pointed to news playing on the TV. Castle turned up the volume on the newscast. _"The victim was found shot to death after midnight. According to police, his bag contained three severed heads."_

Castle was so engrossed with the newscast that he didn't see his mother open the drawer and grabbing her granddaughter's college decisions.

"Detective Slaughter, what can you tell us about –" The newscaster on TV tried to ask but the other man just

stalked toward the camera and pushed on the lens. "Get that camera out of my face before I put a bullet in it!"

The newscast stopped, Castle shook his head. "You know, Mother, in different times I would have tried to meet that guy and to get on this investigation."

"But you don't want to do that now?"

Castle sighed. "No, I just want to finish this book and my contract." He had told Gina that he would stop writing the Heat-series which had started a heated argument. She couldn't understand why he would once again stop writing a very successful series. Especially, since Black Pawn were offering him a very generous new book-deal which would make him one of the best paid authors of all time. Gina had even called Paula Haas for a conference call. However, in the end the two women accepted that Castle wouldn't change his mind. They did know him rather well after all.

"Okay, I will let you get back to play with your dolls – I mean writing."

"Funny, Mother, funny."

* * *

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

Castle was passed out face down on his desk, drooling. After his conversation with his mother he had bunkered down and started a writing frenzy until he decided to rest his eyes a bit due to his pounding head. After a few minutes he had fallen asleep. He was startled awake by Martha and Alexis screaming in delight. He tried to get up which was less than graceful and walked into the living room.

"What happened?" He asked concerned.

"Dad, I got in! I got in!" He understood immediately.

Castle sat down hard on the couch. "Oh… where?"

"Almost everywhere, so far," Martha told him proudly.

"Oxford, Princeton, Sarah Lawrence…," Castle could see Alexis' excitement practically roll off from her. However, his headache prevented him from sharing that excitement too much at the moment.

"That's great, Honey. I knew it would work out."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Then why were you hiding the letters from me?"

"What?" _Oh oh, dangerous waters, tread carefully._

"C'mon, Dad. I can read a postmark. Some of these came last week." She slapped him gently on the head and he grimaced. Well, what could he say to that?

"Oh. I just –" Castle groaned. There was no way the he could lie his way out of it. "I'm sorry, Honey. I'm just trying to protect you."

"I'm 18 now. You need to trust that I can take care of my…" Alexis trailed off, reading the letter in her hand, "myself."

"What?"

"I got into Stanford," Alexis told them disbelieving.

"Yes!" Martha exclaimed and Castle cringed at the noise. "Oh, great! That's always been your first choice, right?"

He was surprised to see his daughter hesitate. "And yet I sense trouble."

"I – I don't know. I mean, I should be happy. But after they shot me down for early admission …"

"They rejected you and now you feel betrayed."

Alexis nodded slightly. "How am I supposed to get over that?"

Castle didn't know how to respond to that question. He was saved from figuring it out from his ringing cellphone. He looked who it was and saw that it was Marcus. "Sorry, Pumpkin, I have to take that." He told her and went to his office.

A short while later Alexis was sitting on the couch, still mulling over her acceptance letter from Stanford when Castle came back into the living room.

"Ah. Basking in the glory of you?" He asked her with a smile on his face and joined her on the couch.

"No. Just trying to figure out what to do. Stanford has always been my dream school but what if their initial rejection was the universe sending me a sign? That I'm better off somewhere else?"

"You think you'd be better off somewhere else?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

Castle sighed. "I don't know either. I guess the question is, do you want it badly enough to get over being hurt?" He paused for a moment. "You know what I think would help with this decision?"

"Ice cream," they said simultaneously and shared a smile.

Being the adult, Castle exclaimed, "Race you."

Alexis scrambled up off the couch but her father was quicker. He was up first and pushed her back down, laughing. Castle ran towards the kitchen with his daughter close behind him.

* * *

 **NEW YORK CITY, NEXT MORNING**

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

The next day Castle stood before his smart-board, updating the facts on one of his private investigations. The evening before, Castle and his contractors had met with their target. Well, they surprised the man, sitting in the dark when he had come back home. Watching the man's incredulous face when he realized who was sitting in his living room made Castle chuckle. What followed was a heated conversation in which Castle made it perfectly clear that it was in the man's best interest to cooperate with him and his team. In the end, they struck a deal. Castle would get all the relevant information which he was looking for and in turn Castle would help the man disappear.

Castle was very happy to get his hands on all the information, but it was a lot of evidence to get through. They would need days if not weeks to work through it, corroborate it and then formulate a plan of attack. However, there was enough information for Castle to update his personal murder-board. He was interrupted by his mother who walked into his office. She watched him staring intently at his smart-board.

"Hallo Darling. You want to tell me what you're up to?"

He had been so focused on his work that he hadn't heard her coming in. He quickly closed the file he was working on.

"What do you mean, Mother?"

"Richard, please, I'm not stupid. You've been on edge lately and I think that you're situation with Beckett is only a part of the reason. Then there are the frequent calls and meetings you try to hide from us. I haven't said anything before but you know how curious I am."

"You mean nosy?" Castle sighed and looked at his mother. He made a decision and opened the file he was working on. "Here, have a look, that's what I'm working on."

Martha looked at the smart-board, read the headline "The Dragon" and quickly looked over the board. She turned to her son. "You're still investigating that case behind the Detectives back?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes and no."

"Explain."

Castle sighed again. "Despite what Beckett thinks, this case isn't just about the murder of her mother. It never has been. What Beckett seems to forget is that her mother's colleagues Diane Cavanaugh, Jennifer Stewart and Scott Murray were killed by the same killer around the same time as her mother. In addition, there are the murders of John Raglan and Gary McCallister. And do not forget the death of the Captain or the conspiracy around Laura Cambridge's death and Bob's part in it as a bystander. As I said, it is much bigger than just the murder of Johanna Beckett's mother." He sighed once again and put his hand through his hair.

"Look, Mother. There are various reasons why I'm doing this. One is, that I want to finish what I started. I know it sounds arrogant, but it was my initiative that led us to the actual killer, Dick Coonan. Now I want to find the man behind that whole conspiracy and all who are involved in it. And let me tell you, there a lot of people involved, some very powerful and connected people." Castle was glad that he hadn't put the name of the Dragon down on the board just yet. He saved the data and disconnected the flash drive. He would later put it into his secret safe which only his mother and daughter knew about. He turned to his mother.

"However, most importantly is that I feel guilty."

"Guilty for what?"

"If I hadn't started to look into Johanna Beckett's murder, the boys wouldn't have been tortured by Lockwood, Roy Montgomery would still be alive, Beckett wouldn't have been shot and Bob could be on his way to be Governor." Castle sighed.

"So you're not doing this to get the Detectives affections?"

"No, Mother. That ship has sailed." Martha was surprised, not only because of her sons words but because of his tone. It was steady and free from emotion. It was a tone that she knew all too well, she had heard it a few times in her life. Her son had made a decision and he would not deviate from it. She was honest to herself that she was surprised. Despite his anger and disappointment after overhearing her confessions, she had thought that he would go back to the detective, as he had previously done. Martha liked Kate Beckett very much and she had been fairly sure that the Detective was the first woman that her son had ever truly loved. Despite that, it had been also very painful for her to watch her only son torture himself over his feelings for the younger woman and she resented the woman a bit for that. Moreover, she couldn't figure the woman out. One day, she seemed to encourage his advances, the other day she rejected them.

"Are you sure you don't want to give her another chance?" Rick started to interrupt, but Martha raised her hands to stop him. She thought she had to try and talk to her son once more about his feelings. "Darling, you know that she's been through a lot in her life. Her mother's murder." Here she pointed to the smart-board. "Her father's subsequently alcoholism. She gave up her plans of becoming a lawyer to become a cop. That is a dangerous life on its own, with people shooting at you regularly. Then last year someone tried to assassinate her. I can understand your anger about her lie, but Darling, you've never been shot. How do you know whether you would have reacted differently than her?"

"Yeah, Mother I'm sure. It´s not just because of her lie or deception. You know me Mother, besides from business and writing, I'm prone to make hasty decision based on my emotion." Martha nodded, she knew that to be very true. Sadly, it was something he had learned from her. Although for her it was true in every part of her life.

"That's what I've done in regards of Beckett from the beginning. However, I have sat down and analyzed both our behaviors since our meeting and I'm seeing things clearly now for the first time in four years. You want to know what I came to realize?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"With Beckett, there is and probably always will be some reason, some kind of an excuse why she couldn't or wouldn't commit to a relationship with me. If you look back, you'll see that after each difficult situation, traumatic event or hiccup she has had in her life since our meeting, she always ended in the arms of another man. For me, that isn't a coincidence, it's a choice. Her choice."

Martha started to say something, but Castle cut her off. "Let's review the facts, Mother. I can understand that she kept her distance from me for the first few months. Not only was I still acting in my playboy persona, but I got put on her team against her wishes. However, I think we found our way and got closer over time as she learned to know me better. Then that crazed serial killer blew up her apartment and I, well we - you, me and Alexis – open our home to her and invite her in our family. You know I don't do something like that on a whim and so does Beckett. At least, she should have known as she is a rather good detective after all. And I think it went rather well. That was the first time that I thought I had a real chance, that she was feeling something for me, too. But what happened? She stared to date Schlemming." He spat that name out. Even after all this time he still didn't like the robbery-homicide detective. "And Mother, I don't mean just one or two dates. Nooo, I mean the full package: regular dates, sleeping together, holding hands, making gooey eyes and even kissing in the precinct." Martha could hear the disgust in his voice. "So, what do I do? I start a relationship that we all know was doomed to fail from the beginning. By the way, that is just one example of my bad decision making in regards of my relationships. What in the hell was I thinking dating Gina again!" Castle looked to his mother. "Don't answer that," he deadpanned. A small smile graced Martha's face, but she didn't want to interrupt her son. He was on a roll and she thought that he needed to get it all from his chest.

"Then after the dust settled on both our relationships, we were making progress again. At least, that was what I kept telling me. I really thought that we had grown so close again that there would be a chance for us be get together. And what happened? She blindsided me with Dr. Motorcycle Boy. Until this day, I still don't know where the hell he did come from. That relationship happened right under my nose, Mother. Here I thought, we were getting closer and closer, while she was seeing another man." Here Castle paused for a moment to pour them a drink.

"Let's put aside my romantic interest. I really thought that Beckett and I had become friends, close friends even. We had been through some tough times even then. The fact that she chose not to tell me about her new boyfriend for months really hurt. That, and the fact I was angry with myself for not noticing what had happened right under my nose really fueled my anger. Not to mention my jealousy." He smiled self-deprecating. For a moment, neither said a word.

"Mother, in the past few years, besides that ill-fated short fling with Gina, I've had only couple of dates. But Beckett? Besides her few one-night-stands that she thinks nobody knows about, she has been with Schlemming and Dr. Motorcycle Boy. These weren't flings, these were full-blown relationships. That's a big difference. And you can't tell me, that I didn't make my interest clear, even before her shooting. Everyone around us knew for a while that I had feelings for Beckett, but she chose these other relationships. We open our home and family to her and she chose Demming. She chose Josh after she and I almost freeze to death in that trailer box. You know, I had my arms wrapped around her to give her as much warmth as possible, trying to keep her alive. In the end, she chose to spend the rest of the night in his arms. I disarm a dirty bomb downtown Manhattan, preventing us and countless other people from being blown up and again, she chose Josh. But it doesn't stop there, does it?" Castle asked rhetorically. His right hand rummaged through his hair and he started pacing.

"I tried to jump in front of a bullet for her and even confessed my love for her. And what did Beckett do? She chose to lie to my face. She chose to continue that lie until she chose to tell the truth to a virtual stranger, a suspect in a bombing." Castle looked his mother straight in the eyes. "And now, I choose to end that little dance she and I have been doing for years. I'm tired of it, Mother." Martha watched her son. In his eyes she could see the resolve to end that "dance", as he called it. During her sons rant she came to realize that he hadn't made a snap decision out of hurt when he pointed out that he wouldn't pursue a relationship with the Detective anymore. There was a certain logic in what he had said. A logic that started to overwhelm even her strong motherly wishes for a happy ending for her son and his favorite detective.

However, before she could reply to her son's rant, his phone rang and he went to answer it.

"Castle… Elle… Calm down… WHAT?... I'll be there as soon as possible."

Martha could see that something bad had happened, his face went ashen. Her first thought was that something had happened to Alexis, but she knew that her granddaughter was up in her room. "Richard, Darling, what happened?"

"Mother…". His voice broke. "That was Elle, Gina's housekeeper. She said…" Martha was shocked to see tears in his eyes. "She's dead, Mother. Gina is dead."


	5. Chapter 5

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** Thank you to everyone who left me an encouraging review or PM telling me that they enjoy reading my story!

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter five**

 **Crime scene**

 **Gina's apartment**

Beckett arrived at the crime scene, nodded to the officer standing guard at the front door as she passed by. She walked up to Esposito who was waiting for her. His grim facial expression told her that this case would be bad.

"So, what've we got?"

"Hey Beckett. It's bad. Not only is the crime scene pretty damn freaky, the victim is someone we know: Gina Cowell. Castle's ex-wife."

Beckett was shocked. Although she'd worked with Castle for nearly four years and meeting the woman once or twice, she didn't know Gina very well. Unlike Castle's ramblings about Meredith, he was more tight-lipped about Gina – especially since their failed relationship a few years back. Despite that, she felt sorry for Gina – and for Castle. That would be hard for him and his family. Beckett sighed, "What can you tell me?"

"The body was found by the housekeeper." Esposito and Beckett walked into the room where the victim was. She looked around to take it all in. The apartment was well lit, with only a few personal - especially not feminine - touches. The lack of any masculine objects in plain view suggested to Beckett that Gina had been living alone. The place was nice, high maintenance, just as Gina had been according to a comment Castle had made years ago. Beckett gasped as she looked up to a bunch of barbed wire hanging from the ceiling. It was obvious that Gina had previously hung there. She took a step around a crime scene tech canvassing for fingerprints and walked up to Lanie. The medical examiner was bending above Gina.

"Hey, Lanie," Beckett greeted her solemnly and scanned the victim's body.

"Hey girl," Lanie greeted her back.

"Cause of death?"

"I'll have to examine her back at the lab to be sure but the ligature marks and petechia suggest strangulation."

"OH MY GOD!" The loud exclamation surprised both women and both turned to see Castle standing in the doorway.

"CASTLE, what are you doing here?" Beckett exclaimed but Castle didn't answer her immediately. His eyes were wide open and his gaze was fixed on the lifeless body of this former wife.

"Castle, you shouldn't be here." Beckett told him. Although she didn't know the reason she had noticed Castle more frequent absence from the precinct. She missed him.

Castle didn't reply but turned around and ran out of the door. He didn't notice the pitying eyes of Esposito or Beckett following him out. Castle could feel the bile rising in his throat and he shut his eyes, forcing his breakfast back down. This was…this had to be nightmare, right? His chest was gripped in the relentless clutches of anxiety. He unconsciously loosened his shirt collar, rested his forearm against a lamppost and breathed deeply. This was how Beckett found him. As soon as she saw him she asked an uniformed officer to grab a bottle of water. The officer returned a few moments later and handed Beckett the water. She handed it over to Castle. "Thanks," he said and silently took the bottle, opened it and swallowed a few sips.

"Castle? You alright?" Beckett asked him concerned.

"Peachy," he answered drily.

"Sorry, dumb question. But what are you doing here? How did you know to come here?" She repeated her previous question.

Castle took another sip before answering her. "Elle, Gina's housekeeper, called me and told me what…" He paused for a moment. "She told me what she had found this morning. I came as soon as I could. Might get a few tickets though."

"I'm…" Beckett began to say but paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, Cas., Rick." She said and put a hand on his arms.

"Thank you," he replied solemnly.

"You shouldn't be here," Beckett told him.

"Of course, I should be here," he answered indignantly.

"Castle, you know that you can't be a part of this investigation."

"Why not?"

"Because she was your ex-wife."

"That's exactly the reason I should be part of this investigation. I can help you."

"Castle…"

"Oh, come on Beckett, don't tell me I'm too close to the victim. That has never stopped you before."

Beckett sighed. She could see it in his eyes that nothing that she said would keep him off the investigation. She thought about the crime scene and came to the realization that he in fact could be helpful. His familiarity with the victim and his vast knowledge of bizarre facts could be very helpful. But would Gates see it the same way? _Probably not._ "Alright, you can look around and tell me what you see. Then you will have to answer some question about Gina."

"Thank you, Beckett."

"Don't thank me yet. I'm not sure that Gates will allow your participation in the investigation." Castle nodded, he could see her point and had no doubts about the Captains reactions.

"Are you ready to get back?" Castle closed his eyes and was quite for a moment. Then he opened his eyes again and took a deep breath. "Yeah, let's get that over with."

They silently walked back into the apartment, both in her own minds. When they got back, Esposito approached them and offered Castle his condolences. Castle stopped before entering the apartment. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath to center himself. Castle entered but didn't look directly at Gina. He walked towards the rear of the apartment. He poked his head into every room, before he came back to the crime scene. He took a deep breath before he looked around the living room. "Ooh, geez. Who puts a body on a ceiling?" Castle exclaimed surprised.

"Beats me. But I probably won't sleep for weeks," Lanie told Castle.

"Looks like something out of one of your books, right?" Esposito tried to lighten the mood. Castle grimaced and Lanie slapped Esposito on the arm. Hard. "Sorry Castle," the detective apologized.

"It's okay. I understand."

"Lanie, can you tell us anything about the TOD?" Beckett asked the medical examiner as a way to get back to the investigation.

"Based on liver temp, between midnight and three am."

"What about this wound on her forehead?"

"It's non-lethal. Given the detail, it looks like it was carved by some kind of razor."

"It's a symbol of some kind," Castle said.

"Do you recognize it?" Beckett asked.

"No, but the killer went through a lot of trouble. It must mean something."

"It's not easy hanging a body and she's at least a hundred pounds." Beckett mused.

Ryan walked up to them. "I checked in with CSU. They found prints in the hallway but the apartment is spotless. Looks like it's been wiped down."

"This guy cleaned up after himself," Esposito stated.

Castle nodded and said, "He didn't mind taking his time."

"So, the killer knew that he wouldn't be disturbed. What's the security like in this place?" Beckett asked.

"Buzzer on the front door, no doorman but there is a security camera outside the main entrance,"Ryan answered Beckett's question. "I called the security firm, it seems the camera wasn't working for the last two days," Ryan informed them.

"That's convenient," Castle says.

"Yeah."

"So, there's no sign of forced entry. No sign of a struggle," Castle pointed out.

"She knew him." Beckett assumed. "You know, if Gina knew our killer, it's possible that her housekeeper could shed some light on all of this." She paused to think about the next steps. "All right, canvass neighboring apartments for anyone that saw or heard anything. And I want to know what this symbol means." She ordered Ryan and Esposito. They nodded and headed off.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERVIEW ROOM**

When they got back to the precinct, Captain Gates ordered Castle to her office. For a few minutes, they argued about Castle taking part in the investigation. In the end, Castle told her, that his ex-wife and the Mayor have been friends for years and that the Mayor would want all available personal on the investigation. It was a last resort, one that he knew didn't endear him to Gates very much. He didn't care. And it was the truth after all.

A few minutes later Beckett and Castle walked into the interview room.

"Thank you, for coming in, Mrs. Summers."

"Hello Elle, I'm sorry to see you again under those circumstances." Castle greeted Elle with a chaste kiss on the cheek. "How are you holding up?"

"Hello Rick. Every time I close my eyes I see her hanging there," Elle replied. It was obvious that she was having a tough time.

"Mrs. Summers, when did you see Miss Cowell the last time?" Beckett asked her quietly.

"Hm, normally I do most of my work during the time Gina - I mean Miss Cowell - is, was in her office and wasn't working at home. We would talk on the phone regularly and once a month we would have dinner together. We had to postpone our dinner this month because of a business emergency. So, the last time I have seen her personally has been last month."

"Did she say what kind of business emergency?"

"No, but that wasn't anything unusual for her. She was a workaholic." Elle said and Castle nodded.

"So no boyfriend then?" Beckett tried another route to get as much information as possible from the housekeeper. Elle looked at Castle. "It's alright, Elle. Gina and I were long over."

Elle sighed. "She did start seeing someone maybe six weeks ago."

"Do you know who he is?" Castle asked curiously.

"That's the thing, she never did say anything concrete about him. She – she acted like it was some big secret. Like maybe he was married or something? But I think that he bought her some jewelry."

"What do you mean, 'you think'?" Beckett asked her to clarify.

"I saw earrings that definitely was much more expensive than the usual kind of jewelry she bought herself." She looked at Castle and continued. "It was something you would have bought her – high quality. You know what I mean?" Castle nodded.

"Did she tell you anything else about him? The way he looked? Where they met?" Beckett fished for more information on the guy.

"No. All she said was that he was every woman's fairytale. Rich, handsome, and generous."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

"Some fairytale. I'll tell you this much – there's a lot more to this story than an affair with a married man. There is no way that Gina would engage in that kind of relationship. For one, she would never settle for being the second women. Secondly, she would never risk her career like that. It would ruin her reputation if the truth became public that she had been a mistress for some rich guy," Castle told Beckett who was writing on the murder board. She turned to Castle and Ryan. "Maybe, but we won't know that until we find him. Get on her phone records, see if you can ID this guy," She ordered Ryan.

"Yeah. I'll have them pull her emails, too." Ryan moved to head to work but he was stopped by Castle.

"Anything on that symbol yet?" The writer asked.

"I put a call in the Feds. They're running it through their database right now." Ryan said and headed off. Castle turned to the murder board and inspected the facts closely. Beckett noticed it and asked, "What do you see?"

"The way he left the body, the time it took? Whoever did this, he liked it."

"Seems that way. Let's go and see if Lanie has any more information yet."

 **MORGUE**

Castle had accompanied Beckett hundreds of times, but today would be his most difficult visit to the morgue yet. Beckett had told him that she could go alone, that he had identified her at the crime scene. Gina were an only child and her parents had died in a car accident few years back. Therefore, she had asked Castle to stay on as her next of kin after their divorce. Despite their failed marriage and the end of their foolish attempt of a second try, they remained friends. It was important to both of them that there should not come anything between their working relationship as writer and publisher. They made of a lot of money together. That was the reason he'd declined Beckett's offer to go alone and accompanied her to the morgue.

"What've you got, Lanie?" Beckett asked they enter the morgue. The medical examiner was standing beside the exam table and Beckett joined her there. Normally, Lanie would scold her friend for the lack of a proper greeting but seeing Castle with his ashen face made her hold her tongue. "I can confirm that the COD was suffocation. Looks like she has been suffocated with a rope or a scarf," the medical examiner told them and gestured to the body. "If she had a boyfriend nothing happened that night. There are no signs of sexual assault or activity," Lanie told Beckett and Castle. The writer let out a sigh, he was glad that Gina didn't have to go through that horror too before her violent death.

"Were you able to narrow down a time?" Beckett asked.

Lanie nodded. "Somewhere between 2 and 3AM Saturday morning. Lividity and pooling indicate that the body was hung from the ceiling postmortem."

"Why would he hang her body after he killed her?" Beckett wondered.

"Ritual?" Castle suggested.

"That's not all that's weird. Strangulation is a violent act. But there were no signs that she fought back. No skin under the fingernails, no bruising. So, I did some checking. She was drugged." Lanie said and grabbed a sample. "Lung tissue suggests exposure to chloroform. Also, your killer was careful. He was wearing gloves."

"How can you tell?" Castle asked.

"Traces of talcum powder on the body. The same talc used in surgical gloves or the evidence gloves that you use at the crime scenes. Whoever this person is, they knew exactly what they were doing." Beckett looked confused at that revelation but Castle had an inspiration. "He's done this before."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Later that day, Castle handed Beckett a coffee as they walked back from the break room. The detective was reading from a folder. "Ritualistic killing, takes pleasure in it, significant care taken at the crime scene –"

"All the hallmarks of a serial killer," Castle stated.

"Yeah, but I've never seen this MO."

Ryan walked up to them. "Hey, bad news. The Feds struck out on the symbol. It bears some similarities to some ancient alchemy signs but they've never seen this one before."

"Any luck on the phone records?" Beckett wondered.

"No, but she spent a lot of time on the phone to a blocked number. Phone company traced it to an unlisted burner phone with an unlisted SIM." Ryan said and handed her a report.

"So he planned ahead?" Castle suggested. His answer was a mix of a nod and a shrug. "What about her emails?"

"Nothing from her mystery lover. So, I had them take a look at her hard drive. Turns out portions of it have been surgically wiped. Like someone covering their tracks," Ryan told them.

"So we're back to square one." The others could hear the frustration in Castle's voice.

"Not necessarily. Uh, Gina's housekeeper said that she thought that he gave her some jewelry. Maybe he left a fingerprint on one of those pieces," Beckett suggested.

"I'll head to her place, see what I can find out." Ryan said and left.

* * *

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

It was an emotional drained Castle who walked back into his loft. There he was greeted by his mother and daughter. "Daddy!" Alexis exclaimed, jumped up from the sofa and ran towards her father. Castle could see from her red eyes that Alexis had been crying. He opened his arms and his daughter flew into them, crying. "Hey pumpkin." Castle closed his arms around her and hugged her strongly.

To his surprise his mother wasn't far behind his daughter, "Richard!" Together the Castle's stood in their loft in a family hug. Nobody said anything for a few moments until Martha broke their silence. "Richard, what happened?"

Castle sighed. And they broke their hugging. "Mother, why don't you get us anything to drink?" Martha wanted to object but she saw the look on his face, so she nodded and walked away. He went to put away his jacket and to freshen up. He noticed that Alexis didn't leave his side and followed him. He sighed internally. "Pumpkin, I have to freshen up a bit. I won't be long." Her look broke his heart, she looked lost. Despite her maturity for her age, she was only 18 years old. And it showed, she looked like his little girl again, not the young woman she was. It didn't surprise him much. Despite all the things he had taught her and she had learned at school, this was the first time someone near to her had died.

A few minutes later he walked back into the living. His mother handed him a glass of scotch and he sat down on the sofa, next to his daughter.

"What happened to Gina, daddy?" Castle had thought about what to tell his family. He knew that the media would report on this case. Not only because of Gina's connection to him but also because of the gruesome details of her murder. He thought that his family should learn the facts from him.

"Here is what we know until now…"

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT**

The next day Kate stood in front of the murder board and updated all the facts they had obtained so far.

"Yo, Beckett. You got a second? I need a word," Esposito said as he and his partner walked up to her. After Esposito called her attention, Beckett stepped back and turned towards her approaching team members. She followed Esposito into the workroom and he shut the door. "Okay, so. What's up?"

"We got the CSU report back."

"Mmhmm."

"The inside of Gina's apartment was wiped clean."

"Yeah well, we expected that."

Esposito held up a folder. "Yeah, but we didn't expect this. CSU were able to pull prints off the outside doorknob and from around the doorframe. And they found a set that didn't match Gina's or her housekeepers. When they ran it they found a match to someone else in the system."

"Okay, who?" Beckett asked now very interested.

The Latino detective opened the folder and handed it to her. "Richard Castle."

Beckett groaned while internally cursing the writer. She studied the report. "Yeah – uh – that can't be right. You know what? It was – it was probably just an accident. He probably touched them on his way in before putting his gloves on." She said and handed back the folder and moved to leave the room.

"Yeah, that would explain it. Except that CSU collected them before either of you arrived."

Beckett was stumped, she had no explanation for that and turned her gaze to Castle – who had come in early – through the window. Her face scrunched with displeasure. "He should know better than that."

They walked out of the workroom towards the writer. Castle saw their faces and knew something was up.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"We have a problem. We got the CSU report back and as we thought, the inside of Gina's apartment was wiped clean. However, CSU found a set of prints on the outside doorknob and around the doorframe. It were your prints, Castle," Beckett told him.

Castle looked stunned. "Are you sure about this?"

"Look for yourself, bro," Esposito said and handed Castle the file.

"Castle, think. Is it possible that you touched the doorknob or the frame on your way in?"

Castle silently thought about that. "I don't think so." He sighed. "I was distressed, so I can't rule out that I'd touch it. But when I got there you were talking to Lanie and CSU was doing their thing. I don't know whether they had worked on the door yet."

"When was the last time you were at Gina's apartment?" Esposito asked him.

"I don't know exactly. It's been a while." Castle sighed again. "As Elle said, Gina used to work from home regularly, particularly when she had scripts to read. Normally, we'd talk on the phone or meet at her office. Especially since our last break-up." All three grimaced at the mention of the previous relationship between Castle and his publisher. "So, those prints can't be mine."

"Are you sure you about that?" Esposito asked.

"Javi –," Beckett interrupted.

"What? You know we have to verify it." They all knew that it was true.

"No, it's simple, okay? He touched the door the last time he had been in Gina's apartment and the housekeeper just hasn't cleaned it properly. That's the only explanation."

"Unless I've got an evil twin." Castle tried to lighten the mood. Unsuccessfully.

"Twins don't have the same fingerprints. It's a common misconception. Those are you prints." The male detective corrected the writer.

"Yeah, I know. I was joking," Castle said solemnly.

"Contaminated crime scene is not a joke," Esposito said and turned to Beckett. "I'll square this away with CSU. And you," he pointed to Castle, "You watch your hands next time, okay?"

"Sorry," was all Castle said. To himself he thought that there probably wouldn't be many more investigations he would take part in. That was one thing he had decided on, he wanted to make a clean break from Beckett.

"What do we do know? Should we tell Gates?" Esposito asked.

"No, let's leave it for now. She would just take Castle from the investigation," the female detective said. Esposito nodded and left.

"Thanks Beckett," Castle said solemnly. At that moment Beckett's phone rang. She saw that it was Ryan. "Hey Ryan, you're on speakerphone. Castle is with me."

"Hey. So, we've been through all of Gina's belongings. No sign of any high-end jewelry. But from the empty spaces in her jewel box, there might be some pieces missing."

"He took back the ones he gave her. It's like he knew what we were looking for," Beckett surmised.

"This guy really knows how to cover his tracks," Castle agreed with Beckett.

"Oh no, not all of them," Ryan told them. "Canvass of the building turned up a neighbor who claims he saw someone heading to her apartment at 7:45 on Friday night."

Beckett perked up at the mention of a possible witness. "Did the neighbor get a good look at him?"

"He got a clear shot right through his front door peephole. Bringing in a sketch artist right now."

"All right. Get it over as soon as it's done. The housekeeper might be able to ID him."

"You got it," Ryan said and hang up.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Later that day, Esposito added the sketch to the murder board. "The housekeeper identified him as Gina's colleague, Lloyd Kurtzman."

"Any priors?" Beckett asked.

"Nothing major. He's got a couple of harassment suits but he does have a sealed juvie file."

"A juvie file?" Castle perked up.

"Call Judge Markaway. If Kurtzman was torturing puppies as a kid, I want to know," Beckett told Esposito and studied the sketch. "Good looking and rich, huh? Just like Gina's mystery man."

"And like Gina's mystery man – he's married," replied Esposito.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION ROOM**

"She was such a glowing presence. You couldn't help but notice her. It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to kill her," Lloyd Kurtzman told Beckett and Castle.

"I'm sure it is," Castle murmured.

"Were the two of you close?" Beckett asked.

"As close as I am to any of my colleagues."

"And when was the last time that you saw her?"

"Friday morning. At our staff meeting."

"Friday morning? Are you sure?"

"Yes.

"Not Friday evening?" Castle asked.

"No –"

"So you didn't go to Gina's apartment at 7:45?" Beckett pressed on but was surprised by Kurtzman reaction who laughed anxiously.

"Her apartment? No, no."

"That's funny." Beckett pulled out the sketch and showed it to him. "We um – we have a witness that saw you there that night." Kurtzman studied the sketch. It's obvious for Beckett and Castle that Kurtzman was uncomfortably. "Mr. Kurtzman, where were you Friday night?" Beckett pressed.

"I – um –," Kurtzman hesitated and then sighed. "I'd like to speak with my lawyer now."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT OBSERVATION ROOM**

Kurtzman was talking in the interrogation room with his lawyer while Castle observed from the observation room. Beckett entered and looked into the interrogation room. "He's not talking."

"I guess a confession was too much to hope for. Some story that might explain it all," Castle said.

"Yeah, we've got teams at his home and his office. We'll know more after the search but Esposito talked to his wife. She said he didn't come home that night. He was working late."

"I'm guessing he wasn't at work."

"No." Castle and Beckett watched Kurtzman through the glass a moment longer.

"I wonder if there were others or if she was the first. If her glowing presence awakened something inside him," Beckett mused but Castle didn't respond. "What's wrong, Castle?"

"It's – uh … just, that crime scene."

"What about it?"

"The person that killed Gina, he was meticulous. But when we questioned Kurtzman he got all flustered."

"So?"

"So, if he put that much thought into killing her, then why didn't he have an alibi prepared?" Castle wondered.

"Perhaps because he was so meticulous he didn't expect to get caught?" Beckett replied. Castle thought about this, but he was not convinced.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, we're stepping into the middle of the first story arc which focuses on the happenings of the episode "Probable cause". Obviously, I have changed the time frame as the murder takes place shortly after Castle's overhears Beckett's confession. Also, I have made some changes to canon and will continue to do so in the follwoing chapters. Some will be more obvious than other. I hope you enjoy it!


	6. Chapter 6

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** I just realized that it was nearly a year ago when I published the first chapter. So, I thought that is a good opportunity to take stock.

It's been rollercoaster of emotions since then. I got some really nice and encouraging reviews and messages and - as everybody should have noticed from my previous reactions - I also got some stupid ones. However, at no time did I think of abandoning this fic, so I don't really know why so many people asked me to continue the story. Not only, do I not want to give those trolls the satisfactions of abandoning the story, but I also have fun coming up with new scenarios and storylines.

Now, reading this, some of you will immediately think something on the lines like, "What new storylines, he's just repeating canon." I have previously stated my opinion on that and do not want to go into that again. I just wanted to point out that just because I haven't published anything that some of you might construe as "original idea", doesn't mean that I'm not working on it. In fact, I have a pretty detailed worksheet that goes up to the third story arc, but it takes time to write the actual story. For one thing, I want to limit my mistakes in grammar and more importantly, in my plot. So, I often go back and forth in my story, rework previously written chapters, and so on.

In addition, there is this thing called real life. I admire those authors who are able to write and publish multiple chapters per month. I really do. Sadly, my life doesn't give me much time to write. For those reasons, I do not publish new chapters as soon as some of you would like. I hope you understand and stop pressuring me for updates.

Anyway, I appreciate you continuing to read "ACS" and hope that you'll enjoy the next chapter.

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter six**

 **NEW YORK CITY, NEXT MORNING**

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

The next morning Beckett was studying the murder board. Her gut told her that something was not right, but she couldn't put the finger on it.

"Hey," Esposito greeted her.

"Hey. What'd you find?"

"Well, they're still processing. But so far there's nothing in his house or his office that connects Kurtzman to the murder."

"Did you check his emails?"

"Yeah, there's no mysterious deletions from his hard drive, no unusual activity. Nothing in his phone records, either."

"Okay, well that's not a surprise. I mean, if he's done this before he knows how to cover his tracks. What about his juvie record?"

"A couple of fights; stole a neighbor's car. Nothing that explains this."

"So then all we have is the neighbor's ID? That's not enough to make a case." A silent shrug was her only answer.

Ryan walked up to them. "I think I might have found something that can help. Something Kurtzman may have missed." He handed Beckett a bag with the earring the uniforms had found in Gina's apartment.

"A diamond earring?"

"We found it in the couch. CSU couldn't pull a print off it, but you see the design? That's custom. Erica Courtney."

"And you know this … how?" Esposito wondered.

"I recognized it. From when Jenny and I went ring shopping. Anyway, I called up the showroom. They confirmed it's one of theirs."

"And do they have a record of who they sold it to?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, I ran the name and the address. They're both fake."

"What about the credit card info?" Esposito asked his partner.

"Buyer paid with cashier's check. $12 grand."

Beckett sighed. "So we have no way of tracing him or the payment," Beckett stated.

"No, but the store uses digital surveillance and they just sent over the tapes." Beckett looked up. This could be the key to solving the crime.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT WORKROOM**

The detectives collected their coffee cups and headed to the tech room. The trio gathered around the television screen and watched the scrubbed through the video until he found what he was looking for. "Here's the time code for our point of sale. That's our guy."

Together the three detectives watched as a man came up to the counter. "Look at his height, build, hair color, Esposito says. "That's not Kurtzman. That's –", the man in the video turned his face toward the camera, "- Castle?!" Esposito exclaimed surprised. Ryan paused the video. All occupants looked at the display shocked. That couldn't be right, could it? "There's another explanation," Ryan said.

"Like what?" Esposito wasn't happy either with what they had found.

"I don't know. It's somebody else. Somebody that looks like Castle."

"We found his fingerprints at the crime scene. We got him on video buying jewelry for our victim. It can't be a coincidence," Beckett said to the shock of her male partners.

"Beckett, what are you saying? That Castle's a killer?" Esposito asked disbelievingly. In the past it had been him who had always been given Castle a hard time, at times he had even doubted Castle's usefulness. But over times they had become close friends, especially after Montgomery's death and Beckett's shooting. He had no doubt that castle had an explanation for him showing up on the video and was surprised that Beckett seemed instantly suspicious of their writer friend.

Ryan interrupted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. Nobody is saying that. All she's saying is that if it were anybody else we'd look into it." Beckett nodded to show her agreement to his statement, but Esposito could see the suspicion.

"We can start by looking into his financials. See if there's any unusual activity around the time of the purchase," he proposed Beckett took a few seconds to consider. _The evidence was there and her job was to follow the evidence,_ she told herself. And didn't have anything to do with the fact that she wanted to know, no, that she needed to know, whether Castle had bought Gina jewelry. "Do it," Beckett ordered and marched past them to leave the room. Ryan shut the door behind her before his partner could leave too. Ryan was much calmer as he searched for Castle's financial history. "Javier, you don't think that Castle had anything to do with this, do you?" Esposito scoffed, but answered immediately. "No, c'mon, bro, no way. But the best thing we can do for him now is to prove this evidence wrong." Ryan hummed in agreement, as he started to scroll through their friends financial records. Something caught his attention and his eyes grew wide. "Hey, Javi." He gestured to the screen. As he looked to the screen, Esposito's eyes grew wide, too.

* * *

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

Later that day Castle stands in his kitchen, preparing dinner for him and his family. After the past two days, they were in need of as much family time as they could get. There was a knock on the door and Castle went to open it. He was greeted with the sight of a very solemn Esposito and Ryan on one side, with a handful of uniforms behind them. Beckett stood slightly to the side, not meeting his eyes.

"Whoa!" Castle exclaimed. Seeing their facial expression, Castle half-heartedly asked, "Wait a minute, did I throw a party and forget again?"

"It's not a party," Esposito answered seriously and handed Castle a paper that Castle unfolds and reads. "Search warrant?" Castle looked down. "Gloves." Beckett still wouldn't look at him. "Okay guys, I get it. The fingerprint thing. I'm sorry. Lesson learned. You can all go home." He was so not in the mood for one the guys pranks at this time.

"It's not a joke, bro," Esposito stated solemnly and moved past him into the loft, the others follow him. Ryan turns to an uniformed officer. "Take him to the kitchen."

"Kitchen? I just –" LT steered him in the direction of Beckett, who had made her way into the kitchen. Ryan and Esposito headed into his office.

"Beckett…" The female detective didn't answer him. "Beckett, what is this?" Castle wanted to know from his partner.

"We found a piece of jewelry in Gina's apartment and we traced it back to the man who bought it for her." He was silent. "Castle, it was you," she spat.

"What are you talking about?" Looked at her incredulously.

"It was purchased with a cashier's check for $12,780." Beckett handed him the surveillance photo from jewelry store. Castle took it and scanned the image. "Earlier that day you withdrew the same amount of money from your pocket account. As a cashier's check." Beckett pressed on.

"You looked into MY financials? You're investigating ME?" Castle asked sharply.

"Of course, we did. There is evidence incriminating you, Castle!"

"Beckett, this is not me. And I didn't buy any jewelry. I certainly didn't use a cashier's check." Castle stated vehemently.

"Then you need to explain it. This, the withdrawal, the fingerprint. You need to tell me what the hell's going on," she told him heatedly.

He had no answer for her right now, but he didn't like the tone of her voice. It was laced with anger and suspicion. He knew that tone, it's the tone of voice usually reserved for suspects in the interrogation room. It's a tone that had send little chills down his spine for the last few years. But not anymore. Beckett was using her interrogator voice on him. She was presenting HIM with evidence – evidence against him. Evidence she actually seemed to believe in. Castle frowned and took a step back from her; Beckett couldn't really think that we was guilty? Guilty of brutally murdering his ex-wife? "Beckett, Kate, you can't possibly think… I mean, you don't really believe-"

"Believe what, Castle?," she interrupted him angrily. "I can't possible believe the evidence? The evidence clearly pointing to YOU!," she yelled at him.

Castle was furious now. Furious about the fact that his so-called friends showed up unannounced on his doorstep with a search warrant, furious that his partner used her interrogator voice on him, and most of all, he was damn furious about the fact that his friend - no that's not right - that his partner – no, that's not right either -, that the detective in front of him clearly believed him to be guilty! Anger and betrayal burned in Castle's gut and he didn't even try to suppress those feelings. "How about you believe me? Believe your partner? Believe the words of your friend when he tells you that this man in this picture isn't him!" Castle waved the surveillance photo in front of Beckett. "Four years, Kate. How can you even…"

However, before Beckett could reply, Ryan interrupted them.

"Beckett? In here." Ryan shouted from the office gesturing to the office. Beckett headed towards him and left Castle standing in the kitchen. He set the photo down and moved to follow her, but LT stopped him. Castle could see the apologetic expression on the other man's face and Castle silently nodded that he understood. He watched as Ryan pointed out something. Their faces fall and Esposito headed towards him.

Oh, oh, this couldn't be good. "What is it?" Castle asked agitated. They were silent, but he could clearly see that there definitely was something wrong. "Guys, what is it?"

Beckett approached him slowly. Castle had seen that face many times, she was in full cop-mode. He saw her right hand moving unconsciously to her gun. He instantly knew what was about to happen. Although he was furious about it, it was Beckett's unconscious move to her gone that shocked him to the core. With quickly looked around and although the others were apprehensive, no one had moved her hand to their guns. Only Beckett. She actually thought him a danger to her and the others. That realization broke something inside him and was the reason why he didn't react with her next words.

"Richard Castle, you're under arrest for the murder of Gina Cowell. Turn around," Beckett ordered him heatedly. Castle looked at her, hurt and betrayal clearly visible for anybody to see on his face. But he knew better than to fight. So Castle simply turned around slowly and let her cuff him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." Beckett read him his rights.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT WORKROOM**

The detectives showed Captain Gates what they had found in Castle's office. "The bag is part of a set that he owns," Esposito said and set the bag on the table for Gates to see.

Ryan spoke on. "Wire and hooks are identical to the ones used to bind Gina. There was also a shirt inside that had some blood spatter on it." He handed Gates the folder of evidence.

"The lab says it's a match to Gina's." Esposito stated.

"What's he saying?" The Captain asked and Ryan replies.

"That he's never seen any of it before in his life."

"Sir, he's not a killer," Ryan stated and Esposito nodded. However, Beckett didn't react, which everybody in the room noticed.

"Then how do you explain all of this?"

"The evidence isn't the whole story. Castle's taught us that," Ryan says.

"Well, that may be so for his writing. In the police academy, we're taught to follow the evidence no matter where it leads us. And that is exactly what we're going to do. Check his emails, computer files, and phone records. If he was involved with his ex-wife there's bound to be a record. Beckett, you talk to the family when they arrive. See if anyone else has access to his place." Gates moved past her detectives to leave the room.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION** **ROOM**

Gates took her place in the interrogation room, while Beckett watched the interview through the mirror.

"Where's Beckett?" Castle asked while walking up and down in the interrogation room.

"Under the circumstances, I think it's best if I handle the interrogation."

"That's probably a good idea," Castle replied to Gates' surprise.

"I'm glad you agree," Gates told sarcastically.

Castle sat down and sighed. "C'mon, Captain. I know that we had our differences and that you're not my biggest fan. But surely even in the past nine months you've worked here at the 12th precinct, you must've realized that there is no way that I would be capable of something this."

"I don't know anything like that. Wasn't it you who told me once, that everybody is capable of murder. Anyway, what I think doesn't matter. We still need to investigate and you know that," Gates said in her typically no-nonsense tone. "We have plenty of evidence against you, Mr. Castle. There is the fact that CSU found your fingerprints at the crime scene."

"We went over that. CSU made a mistake," Castle stated adamantly.

"They say that they didn't. I tend to believe them over a murder suspect," Gates retorted. "Anyway, Ms. Cowell was seeing someone. Someone who bought her high-end earrings with a cashier's check for $12,780. The same amount of money that you withdrew that day from your pocket account. As a cashier's check. Then there is this surveillance photo of you buying the earrings." From a manila file folder Gates pulled out a surveillance photo like the one Kate had shown him in his apartment and hands it to Castle. This time the picture was of higher quality – it was blown up, brightened and printed on actual photo paper.

"I told Beckett, that isn't me. I admit, this guy looks slightly like me, but it is not could be anybody!"

"So YOU say. For ME, this looks like you!" Gates accused him. "I understand that after your divorce, you and Ms. Cowell had been involved for a few months. For me it seems that you were trying to rekindle the flame."

Castle scoffed, "That's absurd."

"Again, so you say," Gates said. "Anyway, to the next piece of evidence." Gates laid the bag the police had found in his apartment on the table between them. "Tell me Mr. Castle, how do you explain your fingerprints on the bag?"

Castle stood up. He was frustrated and paced around the room. "Of course it has my fingerprints on it. It's my bag! But I didn't put that stuff in there."

"Then who did?"

"What about Kurtzman? We know he was at her apartment that night. And he lied about it."

"Kurtzman alibied out."

That surprised Castle. "What? When?"

"An hour ago. His lawyer got him to cooperate. Turns out he was lured there."

"Lured?," Castle asked disbelieving.

"By a text message Gina sent. Only it wasn't from Gina. It was from a burner phone. When Kurtzman showed up, Gina told him she didn't send it so she sent him on his way."

"Well then, why did he lie about it?" he asked heatedly.

"Because he spent the rest of the evening with a paid companion. And didn't want his wife to know." At that comment, Castle sighed and sat down again.

"So. What about you, Mr. Castle? Where were you the night of the murder?"

"I was…," Castle paused for a moment and made a split second decision, "at home."

"And did anyone see you there?"

Castles shook his head. "No, I was … alone." As soon as he replied, he realizes that the alibi he told Gates wasn't going to help him.

"So, for the record, you're saying you have no alibi."

Castle paused and mentally walked through his options. He had been shadowing Beckett long enough to understand how dire his situation was. In the end, there was only one solution for him to go on now. A solution that he should have taken directly after his arrest: "I think I'd like my lawyer now."

In the observation room, Beckett shook her head angrily.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERVIEW ROOM**

Beckett walked into the interview room with trepidation. Martha and Alexis both stood when Beckett entered the room.

"Oh. Catherine dear, where's Richard?" Martha asked concerned. "What's going on? Where is my dad?" Alexis asked at the same time.

Beckett nodded, shut the door behind her and took a deep breathe. "Martha, Alexis, earlier this morning, we have arrested Castle for the murder of Gina Lowell."

"What!" Alexis shrieked. "No, that's impossible. He wouldn't!" "Well, this is madness. Pure madness." Martha stated simultaneously.

"Uhuh," Beckett said vague. "Now, we need to find out some facts. Can anyone else access your apartment? Does anyone have keys?"

"Well, Rosa, the housekeeper," Martha replied.

"Yeah, but she's been with us for over 15 years. And there's a security system. Even if someone had a key the alarm would go off," Alexis interjected.

"Have you noticed anyone out of the ordinary in the building lately? A maintenance worker, deliveryman? Anyone that could have been casing the place?"

"No, no, no, no. Nothing," Martha negated.

"Why has dad been arrested?" Alexis asked again.

"There is a lot of evidence and-"

Something in Beckett's voice must have connected with Alexis. "Did you…did you arrest him?" Alexis asked, her tone of voice obviously indicating anger.

"Right now, we just need –". Kate tried to side-step this question.

"How could you?!" Castle's daughter exclaimed loudly, anger was clearly visible on her face. However, it's Martha who asked the question that would cement the coming relationship between Beckett and the Castle's.

"Detective, do you think he did it?"

"As I said, there is a lot of evidence -" Both Castle's immediately saw through the detective's avoidance of verbally answering the question. That combined with the fact that Beckett looked everywhere but not at the other women in the room was answer enough for the Castle's. **SLAP**

To the surprise of every women in the room, gentle woman Martha Rodgers had just slapped Beckett. The elderly woman swallowed hard to keep her anger in check when she said. "Clearly, the loyalty and friendship that my son has shown to you, has been misplaced. Good day, Detective Beckett." She turns to her granddaughter. "Alexis, let's go and try to see your father." They walked out of the interview room up and looked around. They saw Esposito walking into the bullpen. "Detectives, could you take us to see, Richard?"

Esposito nodded immediately. "Of course, Mrs. R. Please, follow me." The three walked silently as no one knew what to say at the moment.

When they arrived at the holding cell, they saw Castle's lawyer packing up his stuff.

"Thanks, Harm. See you at the arraigning."

"Don't worry, Rick. Everything will be okay." The lawyer left and a uniform slided the gate shut behind him. Esposito walked up to Castle.

"Hey bro."

"Hey.

"Castle, I'm sorry, man. Whatever is going on, we will figure this out. I promise," Esposito told his friend solemnly.

"I know," Castle said and hoped that he could fool Esposito with his show of confidence.

"In the meantime you have some visitors." He stepped back when Martha and Alexis came down the hallway.

"Dad?" "Oh. Oh, Richard. Oh, darling."

Esposito moved to give them some privacy. When he left the area of the holding cells, Esposito saw a solemn Ryan waiting for him. "What?" Ryan cocks his head to get him to follow.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Ryan and Esposito walked up to the Captain's office, where Beckett was informing Gates of her meeting with Martha and Alexis. Becket had declined the Captains question whether she wanted to press charges against Martha for assaulting a police officer.

Ryan started to inform the women of the latest developments. "Tech just finished with Castle's computer. Parts of it have been wiped, just like Gina's."

This information surprised the women. "Were they able to recover anything?" Gates asked.

"They found a file that had been deleted. It was a story concept about how to commit the perfect murder," Esposito replied.

"Captain, the character gets away with it by staging a crime scene so bizarre the cops can't see he's hiding right under their noses," Ryan told her.

"It seems like a dry run on paper. All the way down to the weird symbol we found on the victim's forehead," Esposito ended their story solemnly.

"We found something else on his drive. Emails. Dozens of them. Between Castle and the victim." Ryan said and hesitantly hold out a file.

"Seems like they've been in a relationship again," Esposito stated. Beckett was angry. She took the file from Ryan and started to read.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION** **ROOM**

Considering the high profile case, the DA decided that someone from his office should be there for the next interview. His choice felt on one of his best people, his Deputy Bureau Chief of the Trial Bureau, Assistant District Attorney Erin Reagan. Reagan graduated top of her class from Columbia Law School. Like Castle, she was a single parent. She was also the second child and sole daughter of the current New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan and his late wife Mary.

Now, ADA Reagan and Captain Gates were once again interviewing Castle. "You lied Mr. Castle, you and the victim were in a relationship. The tech found emails between you and the victim on her computer," Gates accused Castle and handed him a pack of papers. "Those emails came from your account."

"What are you talking about?" Castle picked the papers and read each of them. His ability to speed read helped him to flip through them as he has examined so many pieces of evidence over the last four years. From their content, it looked as though the emails were from a couple – a couple which was fighting more often than not.

"As my client has stated before, he vehemently denies that he has been in a relationship with Miss Cowell and as such did not write emails," Rick's lawyer, Harmon Rabb jr., stated. Rabb, a former Commander in the U.S. Navy, started to work for his friend Marcus nearly a decade ago and become his criminal lawyer nearly at the same time.

Castle didn't know what to make of the emails. They did look authentic, they were send from Gina's and his email addresses respectively. _'C'mon Gina, don't be upset. Beckett is just my partner, my friend. Nothing is going on between us.'_ He silently read a part of an email that he was supposed to have written _._ _No wonder the Captain and ADA Reagan believe them to be true,_ Castle thought. He would think the same, if he didn't know them to be truly fake. He knew that he had neither written the part that was supposed to be his, nor did he think that Gina had written the part that was supposed to be hers. Someone had gone through hell of a lot of trouble to fabricate those emails.

Castle sighed. His eyes dart between the ADA's and the Captain's and the papers he held in his hands. "This is ridiculous. Neither did I send those emails, nor have I ever seen those responses before," Castle said. He could see that that they didn't believe him. He realized previously that Gates was convinced that he was guilty. Like Beckett.

"So, what is it you're saying, Mr. Castle? That despite the evidence you haven't been involved with your ex-wife and that someone fabricated those emails?" Gates echoed, ever skeptical, and even a bit sarcastically.

"Yes!" Castle exclaimed in a vehement tone. Rabb held up his hands to salience Rick.

"I think my client has told you repeatedly that he and Ms. Cowell hadn't been in a relationship. In light of this, it seems obvious, that those emails are fabricated," Rabb clarified.

"And who might this mystery man be, Mr. Castle?" ADA Reagan asked him, the disbelieve clearly audible for everyone.

"I don't know," Castle replied frustrated. "Why don't you find out?" Castle replied petulantly. He knew that the question was childish, but his frustration did get the better of him.

"You want to know what I think, Mr. Castle?" Gates asked rhetorically. "Those emails describe a relationship where one partner is extremely jealous. So, one day you tell her that you don't want to go on like that and that your relationship was over. But Gina, she didn't want to break up with you again, to lose you again. As your publisher, she has leverage and threatens you with repercussions for your career. We have several witness statements that told us that there had been some emergency talks about you contract and that that they could hear the both of you argue. So, she threatens you with your career. At this point, you get so angry that you decide that enough is enough. You offer to come over to her apartment to talk things through - and that was the night of the murder. When you get to her apartment, you drug her. When Gina is unconscious, you wrap a rope or a scarf around her neck and strangulate her. Then you put her body on the ceiling with wires and hooks that are identical to the ones that Detective Ryan found in your apartment. Next to a bloody shirt. An apartment that according to your mother nobody but your family and your housekeeper for 15 years can access. Then we have you on surveillance at the jeweler buying earrings with a cashier's check. A cashier's check with the same amount of money you had taken from the bank earlier. The same earrings that we have found in you ex-wife's apartment. Furthermore, we have your prints inside Gina's apartment, even though you claim that you haven't been there since she moved in there. And last but not least, there is the fact that we found a text on your computer that describes the exact same scenario as the aforementioned murder scene."

"What?"

"You tried to delete it so nobody could find it. But our techs did," Gates told him.

"What are you talking about? This is insane. I didn't do anything!" Hearing it all lay out like that made Castle felt a hot burning lump of coal form in his gut. He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself.

"Then why haven't you told us that the murder of your ex-wife was an exact replica of a murder scene you had written before?" ADA Reagan pressed on.

"ADA Reagan, do you know how many murder scenes I have written over the years? It must be thousands. Some I deleted immediately, some I put away for later use. You can't possible expect me to remember every one of those." And that was the truth. He remembered all those scenes that were published, but not all of those he had put on paper for later use. He'd written so many murder scenes over the years that he had lost count of how many there actually were. Most of them would never reach the light of day. They'd never bean read by anyone, not even his publishers. There are so many scenes he had written while sitting around and brainstorming. Or when he should have written actual chapters to reach an upcoming deadline. Sometimes he didn't like those scenes and deleted them outright. Sometimes he thought the scene good enough for later use but decided to go in a different direction with the current project. He'd done that countless of times before throughout his literary career.

"Well, Mr. Castle, you can tell all that to the judge. We have means, motive and opportunity. We'll arraign you tomorrow morning," ADA Reagan told him.

* * *

A/N: So, as we have the first appearances from other tv shows, I have moved this story to the crossovers. As I go along and introduce more and more characters from other shows, I will sometimes give you the background. Sometimes, it will be canon, sometimes I will make changes. At those times, I will give you my new interpretation of the characters and their background. However, as it fits this holiday season, sometimes there will just be some Easter eggs.


	7. Chapter 7

**American Crime Stories**

 **Arc One, Chapter seven**

 **BECKETT'S APARTMENT**

The same evening Lanie was over at Beckett's apartment and was currently reading through copies of emails between Castle and Gina. "They started up about eight weeks ago, according to those emails. They rekindled after one of his book signings," Beckett told her friend.

"Oh, sweetie."

Beckett was silent for a moment. How could he? She felt betrayed and angry. All these months since their talk on the swing she had thought that Castle and she were growing closer. The reality was that he was sleeping with Gina – again. It was like a bad case of déja vu.

"I thought I knew him, Lanie. Sure, he is an immature, egotistical, self-centered jackass most of the times. But I didn't think that he would be capable of anything like that. Killing someone to protect someone else? Sure. But not cold-blooded murder."

"Are you sure, he did this?" Lanie asked her friend. She herself was not sure what was going on, but despite the evidence stacked against Castle, she didn't think that the writer was guilty. She didn't know why Beckett would think otherwise. However, it didn't matter at the moment because right now she had to be here to support her long-time friend.

"There is so much evidence, Lanie. His fingerprints at Gina's apartment, even though he says that he hadn't been there since she had moved in. The cashier's check with which he bought earrings. Earrings that we found in Gina's apartment. The bag with the wire and hooks that are identical to the ones used to bind Gina and the bloody shirt. Then there is the fact he had written the exact same murder scene and then tried to delete it so nobody could find it. And don't forget the fact that they had been in a relationship." Beckett couldn't keep the tears from falling down.

When Lanie stood up to get her friend a handkerchief, she saw Gates appear on the TV. "Hey girl, look Gates on the T.V."

Beckett looked where her friend was pointing and saw that her Captain was speaking at a press conference. She grabbed the remote control and turned the T.V. louder.

"[…] It's true that the NYPD in general, and the 12th precinct in particular, derived some benefits from Mr. Castle's presence in the past. His portrait of several detectives offered an inside glimpse at the lives of dedicated law enforcement personnel to a bright audience. However, despite his accolades as an author, Mr. Castle was just an observer who chronicled some investigations led by the trained men and women of the 12the precinct, he is not an officer. Therefore I don't know whether he thought that he could get away with his crime or not, that he was smarter than our trained detectives or not. But look at his history – he spent most of the last decade sitting around thinking about killing people. Look further back, it was reported quite often that he comes from a broken home with an itinerant mother and several step-fathers. He was expelled multiple times from various schools. Money at a young age, early parenthood and two wrecked marriages. He even has several small offences. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'd say that Mr. Castle has some psychological problems." At this point Beckett turned off the volume and looked to Lanie. Both could see the shock on the others faces. It was Lanie who put their thoughts into words, "What was Gates thinking?"

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT HOLDING CELL**

Several hours later, Richard Castle, who had often been characterized as a man behaving like 9-year old on a sugar rush, lied motionless on his cold steel bench in the holding cell. His hands were folded under his head and he stared at the ceiling. As procedure dictated, he was relieved of his watch when he had been processed into the holding area. Therefore he didn't know what time it was. They had brought him his evening meal several hours earlier and the guards had changed shifts since then. _It should be around midnight_ , he thought to himself. Not that he particularly cared about that, as he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. How could he sleep at a time like this? So many things went through his mind. He mentally checked all of the evidence that they had presented to him until now. He came to the same conclusion, as had ADA Reagan had pointed out to him during the interrogation – there was a lot of compelling evidence against him. There were the emails that laid out his motive and opportunity: a rekindled relationship between him and an extremely jealous Gina. His try to break-up the relationship that resulted in Gina blackmailing him with repercussions for his career. So, Castle offered to come over to her apartment to talk things through – at the night of the murder.

According to Reagan, he also had the means: they had found a bag belonging to him in his apartment. A bag that contained wires and hooks that were identical to the ones the killer had used to hang the dead Gina at the ceiling. Then were was the bloody shirt, HIS bloody shirt. Furthermore, the police had a surveillance photo that showed someone looking like him at a jewelry store buying earrings with a cashier's check. A check with the same amount that he was supposed to have withdrawn earlier that day. Those were the same earrings that the police had found in Gina's apartment. If that wasn't enough, they had found his fingerprints prints inside Gina's apartment. An apartment where he hadn't been since Gina had moved in few months back. And to top it all, there was the fact that he seemed to have written the exact same scenario as Gina's murder scene.

Various scenarios and theories of whom the culprit was that was framing him went through his mind.

And why? He even went through ones that would make Kevin and Espo scoff and Beckett would deem outlandish. Beckett. She was another topic that was racing through his mind. How could she believe him guilty? Guilty of brutally murdering Gina or anybody at all? What had happened for her to believe that? It couldn't be just the damning evidence. The boys, Karpowski, LT and several other members of the 12th precinct had come to see him. They all had told him that they didn't believe him to be guilty. But not her. She hadn't been come to visit him. He felt betrayed and angry. How could she? Sure, the pastweekssince the Boyan Plaza bombinghad been strained between them when he had at the he had heard her confession. A confession that she didn't know he had heard.

Castle was so deep in his thoughts the he didn't hear the door open or the footsteps approaching him. "They say dogs can smell fear." Castle didn't even need to look up to identify the speaker. That voice was one of two voices that haunted his darkest nightmares _. "_ Did you know some humans can as well? You reek of it." Castle stood up, approached the bar to look at his visitor. All the puzzle pieces were flying together in his mind, it all made sense now. "Tyson." Castle voice was a mix of anger and fear. On the other side of the bars stood the infamous killer, his arms hanging lip at his sides. Jerry Tyson was dressed as a regular beat cop: black uniform, silver shield. Castle squinted his eyes in order to make out the other man's nametag. Castle exhaled, the name-plate identifies Tyson as 'J. Rook'. "I prefer 3XK. How long has it been since I left you and Detective Ryan in that motel room?" Tyson asked with a smile.

"Somebody! Help! Somebody, I need some help in here!" Castle tried to summon help.

"They can't hear you. Or see you, I'm afraid. I'm much more thorough than that." 3XK calmly informed Castle.

"You did this. You killed Gina," Castle accused him.

Tyson smirked at the accusatory."Don't be absurd, I kill in packs of three, remember? Here's a much more believable story. YOU killed Gina. It practically writes itself. After all, you commit murder every day in your mind for your books. It's not hard to imagine that you'd eventually cross the line and commit a real one. Especially when the victim was blackmailing you. Bad woman. Hell, that is more or less the same your Captain said about you earlier in a press conference. She doesn't like you much, does she?"

Castle didn't know what Tyson was talking about and it didn't really matter to him at the moment.

"Why did you do this, Tyson? She hadn't done anything to you."

"Four years, Castle. I gave up four years of my life planning the perfect vanishing act so that the cops would stop looking for me. So that I could begin again. So that I could begin killing again. So that I could taste that FEAR again. FOUR years. YOU ruined it."

"Well, if it's revenge you wanted, why not just kill me?" Castle asked him heatedly.

"Where's the fun in that? No, no, no. It's more fun to destroy you. Why do you think I let you live that night in the motel? People think it's killing that I like, but murder's just an act. It's all about the anticipation, the planning. Watching you and your daughter taking a walk, you and your mother having dinner at a nice restaurant. Standing in your living room, being inside your life, knowing that I'm going to take it all away from you. That's what I like."

Castle bristled at the implication of this declaration. Tyson had been stalking him. That psychopath had been inside his home. The home he shared with his daughter and mother. And he hadn't known it. For all the precautions he had taken in the past, Jerry Tyson, 3XK, had slipped through the cracks. Nausea burned in Castle's gut at the implication. He glared through the bars with sheer hatred and loathing. "You won't get away with this," Castle threatened Tyson.

3XK seems to find great amusement in Castle's threat as he mocked him."Oh, please. What are you going to do? You gonna tell them that I came here? That will only sound like the desperate pleas of a guilty man."

"Someone will," the writer insisted.

"Hm. Even if that were true…" The killer shook his head and dismissed Castle's threat that someone would uncover the truth. "Nobody will save you. There's no time. When that lovely ADA Reagan files charges tomorrow, they're going to send you to Central Booking. The Tombs. I have people waiting. For you. You. Will. Not. Last. The night." Tyson said with a cruel smile on his face. Then he turned to leave. "And that'll be their punishment. Believing that you were innocent and not being able to stop it. It'll haunt them for the rest of their life." Tyson paused. "Lucky for you, you'll be dead," Tyson sighed and paused. "I'm looking forward to watching your mother and daughter deal with your death." Tyson backed out of the holding area and left Castle to contemplate his fate.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT HOLDING CELL**

Castle stayed up all night to think things through. He had plans to make. The next morning Castle told the first officer that visits his cell about his nighttime visitor. Not really surprising him, the results were what Tyson had predicted.

"We went through the surveillance footage from last night, Mr. Castle. There's no evidence that Jerry Tyson was in the station. None of the cameras were disabled and no footage - not one camera in the whole precinct - shows Tyson. And there's absolutely no evidence that the system had been tampered with," Gates told Castles matter-of-factly. Next to her Esposito nodded his head. He looked frustrated.

"Captain, I swear to you he was here," he pleaded.

"Mr. Castle –"

Castles gripped the bars so tightly his knuckles went white. "No, I know. I sound crazy. A desperate story from a desperate man. Just – just like he wanted."

"You're right, it does sound desperate - and crazy," Gates told him in her well-perfected sternness that he hated so much.

Castle deflated. He had hoped that she would at least entertain the notion that he was telling the truth. He should have known better. He sighed. "It makes sense, you know, if you think about it. This is Tysons revenge for last year. For me exposing him as 3XK. First, he uses Ryan's gun, now it's my turn. And he was right: you don't believe me." It was obvious that the Captain was not receptive of the 'Tyson theory'. Castles stared Gates in the eyes. "He's going to kill me, Captain. I can't run. I can't hide. What am I supposed to do?" Castle asked heatedly. Gates didn't answer him and silently left.

"I believe you, bro. Ryan is double checking the footage. I better get back and help him." There was no mention of Beckett, but right now, Castle didn't really care. A few moments later an officer came to inform him, "Your lawyer is here to talk to you."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT WORKROOM**

Nearly one hour later Captain Gates, ADA Reagan, detectives Ryan and Esposito were in the workroom.

"You want the DA's office to do what?" ADA Erin Reagan asked incredulously.

"All we're asking for is a delay until we can sort this all out," Esposito told her.

"No, what you're asking for is preferential treatment for a murder suspect. You want to sort this out, you sort it out after he's arraigned," Reagan said.

"No, I don't think you understand. There's not going to be an after," Ryan argued.

"If it's his safety you're concerned about, we're prepared to put him in protective custody."

"Do you have any idea who you're dealing with? Do you even know what Jerry Tyson has proven himself capable of?" Esposito asked Reagan heatedly.

That set Erin off. "Who do you think met with the families of his victims and held their hands when he slipped through your fingers, Detective? I'm very aware of what 3XK is capable of," she told them.

"Then you should know that your protective custody isn't worth a damn. If he wants to kill Castle, he's gonna find a way to do it."

Reagan glared at Ryan and then turned to Gates. "Captain Gates, aside from the unsubstantiated claim from a murder suspect, can you offer the DA's office one shred of evidence of 3XK's involvement?"

Gates replies without hesitation. "Not at this time."

"Then we're done here." Reagan said, gathered her stuff and left.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

A few minutes later Esposito and Ryan were sipping their coffees. "Should we call Beckett?" Ryan asked his partner.

"No way. I spoke to Lanie. Apparently, Beckett got wasted last night. She really thinks that he's guilty. I don't know what got into her," Esposito replied, shaking his. Ryan sighed. He and his partner had talked the day before about it. Unlike their team leader or the Captain, they both had absolutely no doubt of Castle's innocence. He would never tell it out loud, but Ryan was a bit surprised by Esposito's unwavering stand on the matter. There had been a time, when he would have thought otherwise. From the three detectives, Esposito had needed the most time to accept Castle into the fold. Accept that the writer was actually helpful in their investigation. So he had been pleasantly surprised with Javier's response when he had asked him, whether he thought Castle had killed Gina. "No way, bro", Javier had replied vehemently. As pleasantly as Esposito's response had been, as shockingly had Beckett's behavior been.

"I've spent some time at Central. I've seen the Tombs. The way they stack bodies in those cells? If there's a bounty on Castle's head, protective custody isn't going to do jack," Esposito told Ryan, braking the latter out of his introspection. "And that's assuming Tyson pays off a prisoner. Could be a guard," Ryan pointed out.

"So we can't protect him. Not there," Esposito summarized. The thought made him feel sick.

Gates walked Reagan out. She glared at Ryan and Esposito as she passed them.

"We have to stop that transfer. We need evidence that 3XK was involved."

"Yeah, but we've got nothing to go on." Esposito said.

Ryan moved in front of the murder board. "Okay, to pull this off he needed access to Castle's loft. So we need to get teams over there and tear that place apart. Let them look for a fingerprint, a hidden microphone, a broken window jamb, anything that puts him there."

"Gina was seeing someone. If it wasn't Castle –"

"Then maybe it was Tyson." Esposito finished his partners' sentence. "Hit her office. Look for files, schedules, client lists. There's gotta be something that ties back to him."

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT HOLDING CELL**

Later that day, Captain Gates walked up to Ryan and Esposito. "Detectives, it's time for Mr. Castle's transfer. I figured you'd like to be there." Despite her misgivings about having the writer in her precinct and clear conviction of his guilt, the fact of the matter was that the man had made many friends in her subordinates. Next to Beckett, who had called in sick, the two male detectives were very close to Castle and considered him a part of their team. It would be bad for moral, if she would just hand the writer over to someone else without giving her people the opportunity to show a little loyalty.

The Latino detective nodded, "Yes, sir. Thank you." He sighed, but stood up. Ryan follows him. Together the three made their way to the holding area. As they approached, an uniformed officer unlocked the door to Castle's cell. Seeing them, Castle stood up. Esposito slided open the door and stepped inside the cell. When he pulled out his cuffs, Castle dutifully held out his hands. Esposito handcuffed him gently. "I'm sorry, man."

"I'm sure you did everything you could," Castle countered without hesitation. He has no ill-will against Esposito and Ryan. "Don't worry about it, Espo. Everything will turn out okay. I'm sure of it."

"Bro, how can you be so calm?" Esposito asked.

"What other choice do I have?"

Together they walked silently into the bullpen. Esposito walked with Castle towards the elevator and the officers waiting to take him to Central Booking. Castle was still cuffed and he had to face the stares of all the people he's worked with over the past four years. Some of them nodded at him trying to encourage him; some wouldn't look him in the face.

Castle didn't really care, his mind was somewhere else. When they reached the end of the hallway, the Captain nodded to the officers. They took Castle by the arms and lead him into the elevator. Ryan and Esposito could only watch as the officers took Castle to the elevator. Together they walked in. Castle turned to look at Esposito and Ryan and he nodded to them when he caught their eyes. Then the elevator doors shut. They stood their silently for a few minutes.

"What now?" Ryan asks his partner, feeling helplessly.

"We need to find this son of a bitch and put him in the ground," Esposito growled. When they were headed back to their desk, they saw another set of officers walking up to their Captain.

"Captain Gates?"

"What?"

"We're here to transport one of yours to Central." One officer said and consulted his clipboard. "A - uh - Richard Castle?"

Gates startled and looked back to the elevator.

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

The whole precinct was on the phone, even the Captain. "Yes, I'm looking at the transfer order right here." Pause. "Are you sure?" Gates hang up. "Central Booking says that Mr. Castle never arrived. They don't know where in the hell he is."

Gates even had called Beckett back to the office to help them searching for Castle. "No, the paperwork says that the badge number was 871324." Pause. "Right, okay." She hang up, too. "The badge numbers on the paperwork don't exist. They were imposters."

"It's gotta be Tyson," Esposito said.

"He's not going to have Castle killed, he's going to kill him himself," Ryan stated.

Gates rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that her detectives had fallen for the crap the writer had told them. "The DA is calling it a prisoner escape." Gates told them matter-of-factly. The male detectives were shocked by that news. "They've issued an APB and instructed me to begin a manhunt."

"What? They think Castle did this?" Esposito asked incredulously.

"Well, as far as they're concerned he's well connected, knows our procedure, and has substantial resources," Gates told them.

"That's ridiculous. How could he have done that from a prison cell?" Ryan wanted.

"Well, why don't you ask his lawyer about that?"

ADA Reagan walked back into the bullpen. She was clearly unhappy. Gates saw her first. "You two keep working the Tyson angle. I've got this." She moved away to handle Reagan.

"Can you believe her?" Esposito pointed at the DA. "Branding Castle a fugitive when he's probably being held captive by a serial killer?"

"So what's our next move?" Ryan asked feeling helplessly.

During all this, Beckett didn't say a word.

* * *

 **IN A MOVING CAR**

The two 'officers' and Caste walked out the precinct and hurriedly got into a waiting car. The driver started the car when the doors opened and drove away as soon as it closed again. They had no time to waste.

"Wow, I must confess, that went far smoother than I had thought it would be," Castle told the other passengers. That scheme had all been a crazy idea, contemplated after consuming a lot of alcohol with his friend, Marcus, a while back. However, to his delight, the first field test had been a success so far. Castle knew that he wasn't out of the woods yet. He knew that he had only minutes until the real correctional officers would arrive. Minutes before the police would start a manhunt. He had no doubt that ADA Reagan and Captain Gates would classify his departure as a prisoner escape. Espo and Ryan would possible see it as Tyson tying up loose ends and torture and kill him. He actually felt remorse for what his escape would do to them, but he hoped that they would forgive him after everything was settled. He could always lend them the Ferrari to speed along their forgiveness…

"You know, we actually have used this trick before, Mr. Castle." One of the two 'officers' told him. "In that case one of us impersonated an U.S. Marshall. So this time was just a piece of cake."

"An U.S. Marshall, really?" Castle had to chuckle at that. "I'm looking forward to hear that story in full. But we only have a few minutes until we arrive at our planned destination. Did Marcus give you a bag for me?"

"Yes, sir. Here it is. We checked it before coming out to get you. Inside are some clothes for you to change in, a purse with cash and an untraceable credit card and one of our encrypted phones." The other 'officer' handed Castle a bag. "Also, Mr. Steel told us that Carrie's is your favorite café and so be brought you some breakfast. We didn't think you would enjoy the food at the precinct." The 'officer' said and handed him his breakfast-to-go.

"Oh, that's great. Thanks guys." Castle took the offered bag. For the next minutes, they drove in silence while Castle ate his breakfast. It's true what the man had said, he loved breakfast from Carrie's Bakery. Not just because they made some of the finest (and most expensive) food in New York, but their breakfast items earned them a two star rating.

"We'll arrive at the park house in less than two minutes. Mr. Castle, I will park next to a black sedan. The tank is full and the keys are in the bag. I wish you good luck. Make sure that you don't leave anything behind," the driver announced. "Oh, I nearly forgot. Mr. Steel asked me to tell you that your family is now under 24/7 protection."

"Thank you. I really mean it. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it."

"No worries, Mr. Castle. It's part of our job. Besides, it's good to get out of the country and get a change of scenery." As soon as they delivered Castle to his destination, the other three man in the car and their family would leave the country for a while.

A few minutes later Castle sat in his new car. He changed his clothes in the back seat and was now wearing a blue non-descriptive cap. Those several minutes reprieve returned his anxiety to a normal level. He thought about his plan of action that he has decided on last night after his unwelcome visitor had left. Now, after his successful escape from the precinct he was second-guessing his decision. But before he could waste any more time, he grabbed his new phone and looked through his contact list. It was an identical copy of list as he had saved on his last phone, which he had left at the precinct. His friends company used an app that copied all entries on one phone to a cloud. Those data could be downloaded onto any other hardware. Castle hoped that the person of the other end would pick up the phone and hear him out. And most importantly, help him. He waited for a few moments. "Come on, come on. Take up the damn phone," Castle practically begged into the phone. Then call connected, he heard a voice he simultaneously hoped and feared to hear.

"Shaw."

* * *

A/N: So, I watched "Tick, Tick, Tick…" and "Boom!" again to get as much of the personal information on Jordan Shaw as I could possible get. It is my interpretation of the whole scenario that Shaw lives in New York. She did show up to the second crime scene in what I figure must be only a few hours after the first murder. Furthermore, in her conversation with her daughter Jordan, she tells her that she would help her with her homework in the morning. In addition, in that same conversation Shaw told her daughter that she was "on her way home now" as she got into her car. That clearly points to the fact that the daughter was in the same city. Any other fact about Shaw and her family is either a figment of my imagination or that of TheBlackHand724.


	8. Chapter 8

**American Crime Stories**

 **Arc One, Chapter eight**

Castle grabbed his phone and looked through his contact list. When he found the person he wanted to talk to he pushed the call button. He hoped that the person of the other end would pick and hear him out. And, most importantly, help him. He waited for a few moments. "Come on, come on. Take up the phone," Castle practically begged into the phone. When the call connected, he heard a voice he simultaneously hoped and feared to hear. "Shaw."

"Jordan, this is Richard Castle." There was a short silence. Castle heard some mumbling in the background.

"Castle? What's up?" Special Agent Jordan Shaw asked confused.

"Well, you probably have heard of my arrest yesterday and subsequently escape from police custody this morning, right?"

"Yes, the police issued an APB," Shaw told him straight up.

"Right, that's what I thought. Listen, are you in New York?"

"Uh, yes."

"Great. Would you be willing to meet with me?"

"MEET YOU? What are you… Castle, I just told you, there is an APB out on you. Don't you get that? I would arrest you on sight. You know that, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I know."

"When why would you want to meet with me?"

"Uh, you see, I had hoped you would give me ten minutes of your time. So that I could convince you that I am in fact innocent, that I didn't kill my ex-wife." Silence. . .

"You could do that on the phone. We ARE talking right know."

"Yes, but you're one of the best profilers of the FBI and I know for a fact that one of your strengths is reading someone in person." Pause. "Look Jordan, I'm sure that you signaled some other agent to triangulate my phone. Although I'm absolutely sure that that won't be successful, I don't have much time." Castle sighed. "I make you a deal. Meet me in person. If I can't convince you in ten minutes, I will surrender to you without hesitation."

"You must be pretty desperate, Castle." Sigh. "Alright, ten minutes. . .longer. You hear me?"

"Yeah, I understand."

„Okay. Tell me where I should meet you."

* * *

 **NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY**

Special Agent Jordan Shaw sighed. She knew that she shouldn't be here. Well, she should be here, but should have taken a full squad of armed agents with her that would arrest Castle on sight. But to be honest, his phone call had intrigued her. It's been nearly two years since they have last seen each other. In fact, it's the only time they have seen each other. They had spoken once or twice shortly after the end of the so-called 'Nikki Heat'-case. She had thought about his call. Why would he call her? Why not Beckett? Why would he call any member from law enforcement? Why would he risk it? He must know that there was a high possibility that she'd show up with a squad of agents and just arrest him without talking to him. Well, she didn't think that she actually needed other agents to arrest the man. He was just a writer after all.

Those thoughts went through her mind as she walked down some steps and rounded the corner. There she slowly went on and glanced between the sets of bookshelves. She stopped when she saw a man wearing a blue cap sitting in a corner. Just as he had said, he would. As she walked towards him, he noticed her immediately and smiled hesitantly before he stood up to great the FBI agent. Jordan had to hold back a chuckle. Always the gentleman, even in his dire situation. She had noticed his gentlemen like behavior when they had first met.

"Hello Jordan, thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"Well, what can I say? Getting called from an escaped murder suspect intrigued me. So tell me Rick, how did you do it? How did you escape?"

Castle allowed him a short smile. "Believe me, the less you know the better."

"Uhu. Now let's get to business. You said you wanted to meet me so that you can convince me eye to eye that you didn't kill your ex-wife. I have read the file and have to tell you, that the police has a solid case against you."

Castle sighed. "I know. That's what he wanted."

"Ah, you claim to have been visit by Jerry Tyson a.k.a. 3XK. How convenient," Shaw said sarcastically. She wanted to push him.

"Yeah, I know how that sounds. But before I begin to lay out my case, I need to inform you and everybody who is listening and watching, I guess," to Shaw's surprise he pointed to a brooch she was wearing, "that I have a gun packed in the back of my jeans." At those words, Shaw immediately stiffened and instinctually made to grab her gun, but before she could actually reach it, Castle extended his hands and laid them flat on the table near Jordan. The gesture was clear. "Don't worry, I'm not threating you or anyone else who's around. I just wanted you to know so that nobody reacts rashly when he or she sees the gun." Castle didn't say anything else but waited to see Shaw's reaction to his confession. The getaway driver handed him the gun when they had reached the park house. "Oh, and I have a concealed carry permit, your guys can check that," he informed Shaw and those listening and watching.

"You've got to be kidding me? You are branded as a fugitive. Every cop in New York is looking for you. And you're carrying a gun?" Shaw whispered fiercely.

"Yes. Now, can we move on?"

They stared at each other for a few moments. To Shaw's surprise it was her that blinked first. "Fine. Then tell me, Mr. Castle. Why should I not arrest you for murdering your ex-wife? You have exactly ten minutes."

"Right. Let's begin with the reason he's gunning for me…"

* * *

 _ **START FLASHBACK**_

 **NEW YORK CITY, NIGHTTIME**

 **RANDOM MOTEL**

Castle and Ryan were on their way to tell Jerry Tyson that they had captured the killer.

"Marcus Gates confessed to everything." Ryan informed Castle, but the latter didn't respond. "You get to chalk one up for the good guys. Why the long face?" the cop wondered.

"Because if this were a book, I still wouldn't understand the operation," the writer replied.

"Valve replacement. It's no big deal. My dad had one."

"Yeah, it is if you don't have the money. Who paid for it?" Castle wondered.

"I'm guessing Gates did. Maybe he stashed away some money from before prison."

"Yeah, but he was out of prison for a month. Why wait 'til now to do McCardle's operation?"

"Well … he needed McCardle to help him with Linda Russo and Kim Foster."

"Yeah, I guess."

They reached the hotel room Jerry Tyson was staying in and Ryan unlocked the door to the room. When they entered, they saw Tyson packing up his things to leave.

"Packing up?" Ryan asked rhetorically.

"Oh, just getting stuff together," Tyson told them.

"All that stuff from prison?" Castle asked.

"Ah, you accumulate a lot of stuff. You know, even in the slammer."

"You were right about Gates. He did try to go after Donna. But she's okay," Ryan tried to smooth the potential worries.

"And Gates?"

"He confessed. It's all over."

"Thank God," Tyson sighed and went back to packing.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened?," Castle asked suddenly. Tyson paused and looked up. "To your girlfriend, Donna. You didn't ask about her. You just asked about Gates. Doesn't make any sense, unless …" Here Castle trailed off and Tyson stopped packing.

"She was supposed to die," Castle finished his sentence. Ryan turned to Tyson and gave him a questioning look.

"I … I don't know what you …" Tyson said and slowly stepped forward to Ryan and Castle. The writer continued to spin the story. "And McCardle didn't get the money for the surgery until after you got out of prison." He turned to Ryan. "He's removing all evidence he was even there. It was him all along. He's the real Triple Killer." As soon as those words were spoken Ryan went to draw his gun but Tyson had moved faster. Tyson landed two solid punches at Ryan, first in the stomach and then to the jaw. Ryan went down unconsciously. Tyson grabbed the detective's gun, trained it on Castle and confessed with a sinister smile: "Guilty as charged!"

Tyson tied Castle to a chair and then went through the pockets of a still unconscious Ryan.

"That story about Gates getting arrested, that was your story, wasn't it? You were afraid you were going to get caught, so you hid in prison."

"Too bad you didn't figure that out sooner."

"Too bad you didn't leave sooner. Cops'll be here any minute."

"Looks like Detective Ryan called the precinct just before you got here. There won't be anyone missing you for a while. By the time they do, I'll be long gone." Tyson put Ryan's phone in his pocket.

"You won't get far. They already know your name, your face," Castle threatened.

"I can change those. Done that before. That's part of the fun of it."

"Fun like setting up Gates?"

"Paul McCardle was the only person in the world that he cared about. Once I learned that, the rest was easy." Tyson continued to go through Ryan's possessions. "You never know when you'll need one of these," he told Castle and showed him Ryan's badge. "Besides, Gates liked prison."

"You taught Gates everything he needed to know to take the fall for the Triple Killer murders. After that, all you had to do was pay for Paul's surgery and you can walk away scot free. That's a beautiful plan. Undone by a duffle bag."

"Not undone. I'm right here. I'll relocate, start over. It . knowing you came so close to catching me, but this is a winner take all type of game." Tyson said and pulled out Ryan's gun. Castle clearly understood the dire situation he was in. Ryan was still unconscious and other help was not in sight. So he did what he did best: he talked.

"Ah, Jerry. Shooting? It's not your style," he mocked the serial killer.

"Oh, you really don't know me at all, do you?," Tyson challenged Castle. The writer knew that as more and more time passed the chances were higher that Beckett would start looking for him. So, Castle was happy to oblige and played Tyson's game.

"Oh, it's not complicated. You were raised by a single mother. She was blonde. Oh, she was beautiful, but … she never wanted you. When you were what, twelve, I'm guessing, she died suddenly. Let's say drug overdose. You go into foster care - the bad kind. You have so much hate. So much hate towards your mother for abandoning you that you kill these women to get back at her. But you leave them looking peaceful because as much as you hated your mother, you loved your mother. Am I getting warm?" He could see in Tyson's eye that he was closer in his assumptions than the other man would like to admit.

"You' . ." Tyson slowly articulated every word. "You like to be around it because it thrills you. Now where does that come from? Your own suppressed impulses?" Tyson leaned towards Castle until they were nearly eye-to-eye. " . . . .get?" Tyson again drew every word out. "Huh?" The two men stared at each other without either speaking a word. The silence was suddenly broken by the ringing of Castle's phone. Tyson picked the phone up off the table and showed it to Castle. The caller ID told them that _Home_ calling.

"Don't say anything you shouldn't," Tyson said and threatened him with the gun. He answered the phone, and flipped it to speaker. Castle didn't take his eyes off Tyson. "Hello?"

"Darling, I just wanted you to know, your conspiracy theories are completely unfounded," Martha Rodgers greeted her son.

"My conspiracy theories?" Castle kept his voice unnaturally – at least for him – even, but his mother didn't seem to notice.

"Uh huh. Alexis's secret admirer is Ashley. Her boyfriend," Martha told her son.

"Oh, that's great, thanks," he responded plainly.

"Yeah, and he's a very charming young man, so anyway, all's well that ends well." Castle didn't respond. There was a moment of silence. "Richard?"

"I love you," Rick told his mother. Tyson ended the call and put the phone away.

"Well, I don't think there's anything more to say."

 _ **END FLASHBACK**_

* * *

"Then Tyson left. A few minutes later Beckett and the police came to the motel room," Castle finished his tale.

"Okay. That is a pretty interesting story. But it doesn't tell me why Tyson would go to such lengths to frame you," the profiler stated.

"Of course it does. Jordan, I'm telling you, it's Tyson. Strangulation, misdirects, planting evidence. That's his MO."

"No. Jerry Tyson always targeted multiple victims, hence his name: Triple Killer or 3XK. So why the change?" Shaw pressed on. "So, I ask again. What is his motive be?"

Castle sighed. "He told me himself last night: Revenge. It makes sense, if you think about it. This is Tysons revenge for last year, for me exposing him as 3XK. Ruining his perfectly planned vanishing act so that the cops would stop looking for him. What was it he said?" Castle asked himself and thought for a moment. "Ah, yes. He said that it would be more fun to destroy me. That that has been the reason he had let me live that night in the motel. Then he went on how people would think that it's killing that he liked. But in reality it wasn't, because according to him murder was just an act. For him, it's all about the anticipation, the planning." Here Castle paused for a moment. "Then that psychopath told me that he had been watching me and my family. That he had been in my home," he told her getting agitated at the mention of 3XK stalking his family. Alexis. Jordan could see that his agitation wasn't played, he really felt it.

"You know, I can't even blame Captain Gates or ADA Reagan. They don't know me very well, and one even doesn't like me very much. They have to follow the evidence. Even I have to admit that the evidence clearly points to me. And the funny thing is, it doesn't really matter that I know that the evidence is wrong, because I can't prove it. You have to give him his due, Tyson is one smart s.o.b.," Castle made his case passionately. "So, the question is, do you believe me?"

"Do you mind if I call the guys watching us first, well you - and ask for their opinion?" Castle shook his head. "No, go ahead. I'm quite happy that you haven't arrested me yet." Castle said with a small smile on his lips, which he lost at Shaw's reply, "Well, there's still time for that." Before Shaw could take out her phone, it rang. She took it and walked a few steps away from Castle. "Don't move or I shoot you!," she threatened Castle.

"You're kidding?" No answer. "Right?" Still no answer. He tried to listen to the phone call, but couldn't hear anything else after the initial greeting, "Hey Avery. So, what do Ken and you think?" He remembered the first name; it was her Junior Agent who worked with her on the 'Nikki Heat'-case. _"Who is Ken?"_ Castle mused. After a few minutes, the waiting started to grate on his nerves. He had to admit that Jordan Shaw had a pretty good poker face. Well, she certainly needed it to have one with the cases she had to deal with and the bad people she had to face. Most if not all of them, psychopaths like Jerry Tyson. Every time someone walked near him, Castle tensed. He knew that the police and DA's office would have gone public with his escape and the resultant APB. The longer he sat there, the better the chances were that someone would recognize him. Than all chances, as slim as the may be, would be gone. Even though Shaw had agreed to his proposal and did come to meet him, he had never thought that she would come completely alone. That's why he hadn't even demanded that on the phone. He had recognized the camera in the brooch on sight. What he didn't know was how many people she had waiting for him on the outside. But it didn't really matter. He had given his word and he would stand by it. What other choice did he have anyway? He had every faith that in the end the truth would prevail. Oh, it wasn't his believe in the justice system. Castle knew better than to think that the justice system was infallibly. He was neither an idealist nor an idiot. And he still had an ace up in his sleeve, but he had decided early on to take the wait and see approach. And now he was waiting. Castle hated waiting. What was Shaw doing anyway _? Ahh, here she comes, at last._

"Alright, Castle, follow me." He had dreaded those words. "Okay, Agent Shaw. I gave you my word and I'm keeping it. I won't make any fuss." Castle grabbed the magazine he'd been reading and put it into his bag. "Do you want to have my gun now," he paused as some visitor walked by them, "or when we're in a less public place?"

"What? Oh, no. You can hold on to it. You might need it to shoot Tyson," she told him flippantly.

Castle stopped walking and let out a quick exhale, "So…so you believe me? About Tyson?"

"Yes, so does Avery and Ken." _Again with that name._

"Who's Ken?"

"My old teacher." Castle thought for the moment, trying to remember everything he knows about Jordan Shaw. He had researched her in the past when he was looking for possible people to base a character on.

"Ken Carpenter?"

"You know him?"

"No, I know of him. He's a living legend in profiling. One of the founding members of the BAU. When he took over Major Crimes, the department's arrest record was a staggering 89 percent. One of the highest percentage ever measured. It's even more impressive when you consider the number and severity of the cases they dealt with. Last I heard was that he had retired around five years ago." Shaw chuckled; she could hear the excitement in Castle's voice.

"So, it seems that Ken does have his own fan-boy. Oh, he didn't retire. In fact, he's waiting outside in the car. And he is still listening in."

"Oh. That's great," Castle said with a little embarrassed. "Hi, Ken."

They walked in quite for the rest of the way out. Leaving the New York Public Library, Castle saw a black van.

"I guess that's you guys," he said to Shaw and pointed to the van. "Very…FBI-ish. So, does that mean, it does have a lot of surveillance equipment?"

"Yes, to both questions. What did you expect? You only gave us a few minutes to arrange everything. So, we took the first truck we could." She walked up to the side door of the car, but stopped before opening it. "Oh, and Castle? Don' .anything! Are we clear?"

Castle made a face as if someone had told him that Santa wasn't real. Shaw chuckled and opened the door. She stepped aside to let Castle in first. "Castle, you know Agent Avery."

"Nice to meet you again, Agent Avery. Despite the circumstances," Castle greeted the Agent with a handshake.

"And this is the 'living legend', as you called him, Agent Ken Carpenter, my old teacher." Castle turned to greet the man. Ken Carpenter was the very definition of the word grandfather. At 62 years old, he had thinning hairs and a full-beard. _He looks a lot like Kris Kringle_ , came to Castles mind. The man had six grandchildren and unlike other Special Agents, he has pictures of them hanging on the walls of his office and not his fancy diplomas from Harvard and Yale. Ken came to work every day and sat in the same big comfy chair. In the same corner office. On the same floor. Wearing one of ten brown tweed suits he owned and he did it with a big smile on his face. He had done so every day for the past five years. If you had met him six years ago things would have been very different. Back then Ken ran the department and he lived and died with every case - and he taught his agents to do the same. He pushed each of them to never give up on a case. To work every detail and every fact into the ground until you were sure they held no value to the case. As Castle said earlier, during Carpenter's tenure as lead, the department's arrest record had been a staggering 89 percent.

The downside? After nearly thirty years it had given him a massive heart attack that almost killed him. On that day he had made a deal with his wife. No more running after murderer. No more new cases. No more stress. Just good old comfortable Ken, the guy just waiting for his retirement surrounded by pictures of his family. He handed off the title of department head of Major Crimes and took over Cold Cases. There he was supported by Probationary Agents who also worked for Major Crimes. And even in this task he had some successes. Together with his team he solved a few cases, but there was no pressure to get them all. In addition, he still taught classed on profiling regularly, but he had never touched a hot case file in five years. So, when Jordan had walked into his office earlier that day and sat in front of his desk, he had been intrigued about what she was about to tell him. And he hadn't been disappointed. A murder suspect who called the police wasn't anything new. Even one who had just escaped police custody was nothing to him. A suspect who asked for ten minutes of an agent's time to meet face-to-face in order to convince said agent of his innocence? Well, that was new even to someone with such vast experiences like him. That the suspects name was Richard Castle, was a bonus. So, he didn't hesitate when Jordan had asked him to accompany her to the meeting in order to give her his opinion.

"Hello Agent Carpenter. It's an honor to meet you. As you have probably heard, I'm a big fan of yours," Castle greeted the older man.

"Mr. Castle. It's nice to meet you. My wife is a huge fan, we have every book you have ever published at home," Ken said amicably.

"Call me Rick, please."

"Then I'm Ken."

"Okay, okay. You can open a mutual admiration society later. I think we have a killer to catch," Shaw told the men.


	9. Chapter 9

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** As criminal investigations begin to play a more prominent role in this fic, I want to point out why they will be very realistic and you should all take notice. Over the past decades I have earned a double major in 'Law and Order' and I want to thank the brilliant professors who helped me to achieve them.

So here is a heartfelt 'thank you' for my law professors, especially Mr. Perry Mason, Mr. Benjamin Matlock and Commander Harmon Rabb Jr.

I also want to thank those who helped me earn my degree in criminology: Commissioner Jack Mannion, Detectives Alexandra Eames and Robert Goren, Det. Mac Llewellyn Taylor, Det. Charlie Crews, Lt. Horatio Caine, Special Agents Samantha Waters, Sydney Bristow, Teresa Lisbon, Jack Bauer and Seeley Booth, as well as Lt. Commander Steven McGarrett.

Special thanks to my guest lecturers Mrs. Jessica Fletcher, Dr. Mark Sloan, Mr. Michael Knight, Mr. Adrian Monk, Mr. Shawn Spencer and Mr. Burton Guster, Dr. Gilbert Grissom, Dr. Temperance Brennan, Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh, Mr. Patrick Jane, Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, Inspector Nash Bridges, Mr. Raymond Reddington and, of course, Jarod.

As you can see, I had phenomenal tutors and learned a lot from their vast knowledge and experience.

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter nine**

"Hello Agent Carpenter. It's an honor to meet you. As you have probably heard, I'm a big fan of yours," Castle greeted the older man.

"Mr. Castle. It's nice to meet you. My wife is a huge fan, we have every book you have ever published at home," Ken said amicably.

"Call me Rick, please."

"Then I'm Ken."

"Okay, okay. You can open a mutual admiration society later. I think we have a killer to catch," Shaw told the men.

"You're right, of course, Agent Shaw," Castle said. "May I ask why you believe me - despite the evidence?" Castle asked. "Not that I'm complaining," he added hurriedly.

"You're right. The evidence is damning," Avery said. "But despite your line of work, I didn't get the impression of you being a likely murderer."

"Let me clarify that," Shaw interrupted. "I don't think you would kill someone in this manner. Especially not one of your ex-wives," she said and continued after a moment. "Besides, you are an intelligent man who has spent the past decades sitting around thinking about how to kill people. I'm sure that you have often thought and probably written about what you think of the perfect murder. In addition to that theoretical comes a lot of practical knowledge you have learned by shadowing Detective Beckett and her team over the past years. Again, I'm sure that you have learned the procedure on how to investigate a murder. You have seen the CSU analyzing crime scenes. Therefore, I think that if you wanted to commit such a crime you would have been smart enough not to leave such obvious evidence. Case in point is the bag the police found in your office in your loft with material similar to such used during the crime."

Shaw looked straight at Castle. Rick nodded at her words. He had understood what she had said, and what she had not. He looked to the other men. Unlike Avery, Ken had understood, too.

"Well, the thing is that it doesn't matter what we think. It's the evidence that matters. We have to prove your innocence. You claim that Jerry Tyson a.k.a. 3XK has visited you in prison." Castle wanted to protest that it wasn't just 'a claim', but before he could say anything, Ken continued. "Again, I believe you. But how do we actually prove it?" Ken asked them.

"Well, first let's wait until all the others are back," Shaw suggested.

"How many of your people had you actually watch the Library?" Castle asked.

"Three more of my Junior Agents. I had them stationed at the nearest and most obvious exits you could have used."

"Smart," Castle simply said.

"You don't sound surprise?" Shaw stated

"I'm not. When I made my plans last night, I knew that getting you to agree to meet me would be very difficult. The fact that you actually agreed was an unlikely success. However, I knew from the beginning that you would never come alone. There were only two possible options: first, you come with a full tactical team or just enough agents to simply arrest me. Or secondly, you get some other agents to accompany you and listen in or possible watch us until you either decided to arrest me or agree to help me. That's why I didn't demand that you don't talk to anybody or that you'd come alone. You would never have done that anyway. And without doing so earned me a little trust, I think." There was silence for a moment.

"That was very sound deduction on your part, Rick," Ken finally commended Rick.

"Thanks," Castle replied unusually bashful.

"Especially when you remember that we actually don't know each other that well. Calling me was a huge risk. Why DID you call ME?" Shaw asked.

Castle sighed. "I had several reasons. First of all, Jerry Tyson is a psychopath who has killed many people over the years. YOU catch serial killers for a living. I have nothing against the members of the twelfth precinct, but you have much more experience and resources. You are much more equipped to hunt him down than the police. Two, as you said, despite working together for a few weeks and one or two short calls in the aftermath, we don't know each other that well. You're objective. You had no emotional baggage when viewing the case files and listening to me. And three, and here I must apologize because in a way I'm using you, I didn't want Esposito and Ryan to get in trouble."

At that moment, the door of the side door of the van opened and Castle could see three people - two man and one woman - standing outside the car. "Ah, here are the others. Richard Castle those are Agents Warner, Abbydawn and Moss," Shaw said.

"Hi, I'm Will Warner," the guy in the middle introduced himself. Rick took a more thorough look and had to work hard to keep a straight face. Warner stood a good foot taller than Rick and he was just as wide. But for Castle the man had a very gentile way about him. His very dark skin contrasted harshly with his crisp white shirt that matched his impossible white teeth perfectly. _Have to ask him about his dentist someday_ , Rick mused. Will's head was shaved smooth, but he had a full beard. "It's nice to meet you, Agent Warner. I'm Rick Castle," Rick said shaking his hand. "Likewise, Mr. Castle."

"I'm Dashiell Abbydawn," a short stocky guy with short brown hair and thick glasses said. "Just call me Dash," Dash says with a thick British accent while shaking Rick's hand. "Okay, Dash. I'm Rick."

"Hi, I'm Olivia Moss. It's nice to meet you, Rick. I've read some of your books. I'm impressed by the level of detail," she said shaking his hand. Olivia was a tall and thin woman, but curvy in all the right places. She was wearing a black suit with a very short skirt. Her blue button down shirt was left open just wide enough to give a hint on what was underneath. It was obvious for Castle that Agent Moss knew exactly what she had – and didn't mind showing it. But not in a cheap way. "Hi, I'm Rick," Castle greeted her.

"Great, now, that you have properly introduced yourself, can we go back to work? We have a man to hunt down," Shaw said getting impatient.

"Is this now an official FBI case?" Dash asked his boss.

"No. As we neither have been officially asked to consult, nor did the facts of the case warrant an FBI involvement, this is not an actual FBI case. So, if anyone wants to walk away, that's alright with me. There won't be any repercussions." Shaw told her three Junior Agents. She knew that Ken and Avery would work this case with her.

"That same goes for me. There won't be any bad feelings," Castle said.

The group shortly looked at each other. Then Warner turned to Shaw, "What are our next moves, boss?"

"Uh, if I may?" Castle interrupted and received a raised eyebrow from Shaw. After a few seconds, she nodded. "Go ahead, Castle."

"Thanks. It's a good thing that you have brought so many people, Agent Shaw, so we can split the group and have each concentrate on different leads."

"Well, what leads do we actually have?" Olivia Moss asked a little impatiently.

"I have been thinking about this since his visit. Tyson told me that has planned this scheme for a while now. He is to smart and meticulous to have left any fingerprints or DNA behind. Just like with his previous murders. So, we won't find such either at the crime scene or in my apartment." Castle growled out. The Junior Agents had heard Castle's talk in the Library through the microphones so they knew all about it. "And Captain Gates told me that they haven't found any trace of him IN the twelfth precinct. But what about on the outside? Agent Shaw, may I suggest that you have your Junior Agents check the traffic camera, ATM footage and all the private security cameras from around the precinct? Oh, as well as my apartment? He would have had to sneak into the building sometime to plant the bag."

"That's a good idea. I'll help and coordinate with you from the office," Ken said.

"It's a lot of tape, so I'm going to help, too. I can also run interference in the office," Avery said.

"Alright. But what are we," here Shaw pointed between Castle and her, "going to do?"

"Well, I kept wondering how he could get a surveillance photo of me buying those earrings. It isn't tampered and the part you could see really looks like me. But I know that it isn't me. So I thought about where people can find a person who looks like someone else. Or, where I can find someone who looks like me, but isn't me. And then it hit me," Castle said and grabbed his bag. He pulled out a magazine from it and showed it to the others.

"Broadway Casting?" Shaw asked incredulously.

"You want someone to play a role? You cast it." Castle flipped the magazine open. "Look at this advertisement from four months ago by a celebrity lookalike firm."

"Private book club party," she read aloud for the others.

"And look who they're looking for," Castle said and pointed his fingers to a particular point.

"James Patterson, Stephen King, J.K Rowling –"

"And me," Castle said and ripped the page out of the magazine.

The others were silent, they had to let that sink in. "That's very good thinking, Rick," Ken praised him again.

"Everybody knows what to do?" Shaw asked.

"Yes, boss."

"Okay people, let's go then."

* * *

 **BROADWAY CASTING**

Castle and Shaw took his car to drive to the casting agency. "Hey Castle," she asked hesitantly, "you said that one of the reasons why you had called me was that you didn't want Detectives Ryan and Esposito to get in trouble. From you earlier description I understood that your Captain thought you guilty. But what about Detective Beckett?"

Castle was silent for a moment. "Well, it seems that the good detective doesn't think very much of me. She practically accused me of the murder right before she arrested me. When Alexis and Mother asked her whether she thought I was guilty or not, she avoided the answer and just pointed to the amount of evidence. You know, the evidence that took you only a few minutes to dispute." Shaw could clearly hear the anger, hurt and disappointment in his voice.

She too was very surprised at what he hold her. "Did something happen between you? When we met I could practically feel the tension between you."

Castle sighed. "Jordan, no offence, but can we please not talk about Detective Beckett at the moment?"

"Sure." They drove silent until they get to their destination.

When they got to the casting agency, the receptionist relegated them to the casting agent.

"Yeah, we placed that ad. Sent a couple of headshots over to the client's PO Box, but never heard back," she told them.

A Tom Hanks lookalike filling out paperwork distracted Shaw, "Uh … could I get the address?"

"Sure," the casting agent started typing.

"And did you send over any 'Richard Castles'?" Castle asks.

"Let me check."

Shaw looked around while she was waiting. By now, 'Tom Hanks' had taken a seat next to 'Bruce Springsteen' and 'Madonna'. Shaw was impressed with the resemblance between the originals and the lookalikes. She greeted them with an awkward smile.

"Just one," the office manager told them.

"Great," Castle said. "We'll need his information as well."

 **NEW YORK RESTAURANT**

The address the casting agent had given them was a restaurant where the Castle double worked as a waiter. Shaw was on the phone. "Okay, thanks," she said and hung up. "That was Avery. The PO Box the agency sent the headshots to, had been paid for in cash and rented for a month. The owners gave no forwarding address. It's a dead end."

"Tyson might be a dead end but Richard Castle isn't. Look, it's me." Castle stated and pointed to the right. Shaw looked at the man. At a glance, he could be Castle. They walked up to the manager, identified them as FBI agents - well, only Shaw did, obviously – and asked to speak to the waiter. They had to wait a couple of moments for the waiter to make his round and to take a short break.

"Yeah, people come up sometimes. Ask me to sign your books," the Castle lookalike told them, proud of this fact. "So I figured I'd submit, but I never heard back."

Castle studied him. "You know, now that I'm up close, I really don't see it," he said feeling a bit peeved.

"Ah …. So uh, is this you?" Shaw asked him and handed over the surveillance photo from the jewelry store. "Yeah, that was for a reality show in store security. It was an odd gig. They sent me in to buy earrings."

"And was this man involved somehow?" Shaw handed him a photo of Tyson.

"He looks a little like the show's producer." Castle and Shaw exchanged a glance. Both declarations were more than enough to put holes in the case against Castle.

"You wouldn't happen to have his contact information, would you?" Castle asked him eagerly.

They sat down in a booth that was as out of the way as possible. Shaw called Ken. "Hello Jordan. You're on speaker with Avery."

"Hello Ken, hello Avery. You're on speaker, too. Here is an update. We have found the Castle lookalike who confirmed to be the man in the surveillance photo. He also recognized Tyson as the so-called show producer who had hired him. He gave us the contact details which I have sent to you. Avery, can you run them down, please?"

"Sure."

"That's great. That means that Castle is off the hook," Ken said.

"I'd be much happier if we could nail that s.o.b.," Castle stated.

"Don't worry Rick, we'll get him. We just have to be patient," Shaw tried to comfort Castle.

"Jordan is right, Rick. I have a lot of experience in chasing psychopaths. And I can tell you that patience is a key to catch them."

"Yeah, well, I just want that nightmare to end," Castle said frustrated. For the first time Shaw could see the toll the last days had taken on Castle. He looked weary. She remembered that he told her that he hadn't slept the previous night. Instead he had been making plans. Plans that were very successful until now which surprised and impressed her equally. They talked to Ken for a few more minutes to get an update from him.

"All right," Avery interrupted their conversation. "I had the Junior Agents help me run down the information. They are listening in, too."

"Hey guys," Shaw greeted them.

"Hey boss."

"So," Avery interjected, "the address for the show's producer is another dead PO Box and the phone number is defunct." Castle sighed.

"Okay, what about his paycheck?" Shaw asked.

"Well, I talked to the bank and the corporate account that cut the check is closed and the corporate contact, a Joseph Vacher, doesn't seem to exist," Agent Warner told them.

"Yeah, he exists all right," Castle replied. "Or at least he used to. Joseph Vacher was a French serial killer from the late 1800s." Shaw nodded, impressed at his knowledge.

"So he's got a sense of humor," Agent Moss stated sarcastically.

"Have any other checks been written from that corporate account?" Shaw asked.

Warner ran the information through the computer. "Yeah. Cut to Black Pawn."

"My publishing house. Gina worked for them."

"So there's no mention of Vacher in her policy files," Dash informed them. "But there was an entry in her calendar … yeah, here it is… 6 weeks ago. Site visit with a J.V."

"Well that's him. Has to be," Moss said.

A woman walked past their table and Castle noticed that she took an extra second to study him.

"Did Gina write anything else with it? A phone number, emails, an address?" Castle asked.

"No phone number, but there is an address. Maybe that is where they went for the site visit. Looks like it's in northern Manhattan near the bridge," Dash told them.

"He was posing as a building owner looking for insurance. He probably found an empty property. Could be worth a look," Avery said.

"Okay guys, suit up and meet us there."

"You got it, boss," Avery confirmed.

Castle saw the woman from earlier point at him to another woman. He turned to Shaw, "Someone saw the news. We gotta go." He grabbed here and they headed out quickly.

* * *

 **EMPTY BUILDING IN NORTHERN MANHATTAN**

Shortly before 6 a.m., Castle parked his sedan next to the FBI's big black minivan in front of an abandoned building in northern Manhattan. They stepped out and greeted the FBI agents.

"Where is Ken?" Castle asked.

"He doesn't do that part of the job anymore," Shaw answered and Castle nodded. The agents began to strap on their vests. Dash handed one to Shaw.

"Where is mine?" Castle asked.

"Uh, you don't get one 'cause you're staying here?" Dashiell said uncertain.

"No way. I'm going with you guys."

"Castle," Shaw began but Castle interrupted her. "Look, Beckett and I tested this whole 'let-the-writer-wait-in-the-car-thing. It didn't work out that well. Whether you give me a vest or not, either way I'm going in."

Dash looked to Shaw who just nodded and handed a vest over to Castle. The writer put it on then grabbed his gun which was stashed in his waistband for a quick check.

"What is that?" Moss exclaimed at the sight of Castle's silver gun with wood grips. The other looked the source of her exclamation.

"That, Agent Moss, is the P226 X-FIVE. You can't find a more accurate gun at twenty-five feet. This gun redefines what good is," Castle said proudly. "It's full stainless steel construction so I never need to worry about rust. It has a five-inch barrel for greater accuracy. With the ergonomic wood grips and the extended beavertail, it's impossible to hold this gun wrong. It seats perfectly in the hand. Front cocking serrations for easier racking of the slide. Bigger magwell for easy quick magazine changes. It also has a low profile glowing dot target sights for easy target acquisition, and a 19 round magazine. In my opinion, this is the greatest handgun ever made," Castle explained. The gun fit every inch of his hand. He slid the mag in to the handle and it clinked home with a good 'thunk'.

"Alright then. Excitement is over. We have work to do," Shaw stated.

"Owner of the building says it's unoccupied. Says there hasn't been a tenant for nearly a year," Avery informed them.

"Then who's up there?" Castle asked and pointed to a light on in an upper floor.

"Could be someone or could be just a light," Moss said.

Castle saw movement in the window. "Did you guys see that?"

"All right guys, let's move. C'mon," Shaw said.

After a last check of their vest, they pulled their weapons. The six of them decided to split in two groups with three members each before entering the building. One group consisted of Avery, Moss and Dash; the other of Shaw, Castle and Warner. It was so dark that they had to use flashlights to light the way. They walked past hanging plastic tarps and broken sheetrock walls. The air was dusty. They diligently cleared each floor before they headed for the apartment on the upper floor. They walked in with their guns drawn and swept the place. "Clear", they all chorused.

"There's nothing. It was just a sheet." Warner told them.

Castle was still looking around. As was common appearance, he couldn't keep his hands of things and moved another sheet. His eyes widened atthe sight before him. "You guys? Over here." He called the others and ripped the sheet down. They others gathered around him. On the table before them laid dozens of photos of Castle clustered around, along with a cell phone and barbed wire. The photos showed a collection of headshots of Castle in different situations and daytimes. In addition there laid surveillance photos showing Castle with various persons; there were some of him and Beckett walking down a street or sitting at Remy's. Also, there were pictures of Castle leaving his apartment building with Alexis or Martha, and some showed the three of them during different gatherings. All those pictures creeped Castle out but the last batch of pictures sent cold shivers up and down his spine: the pictured showed interior photos of every room of the loft - including Alexis' bedroom.

"Wow, this is," Dash began to say.

"Creepy."

"Scary."

"Eerie."

"Sinister."

"Fucked up."

"Well, I wanted to say 'weird', but let's go with the famous writer. Fucked up it is," Dash concluded wisely.

Castle gave him a sideways glance. "Thanks."

Shaw went to another table and pulled its sheet away. "Guys, look at this," she said and gestured to the table. On it laid another batch of photos; these however were dedicated to Gina. They showed her in similar situations as Castle, they were surveillance style shots showing Gina doing day-to-day things. There also were detailed pictures of the interior of her apartment.

"It's all of Tysons's plans," Castle said, his expression darkened at seeing photos of Gina.

"That's enough to convince the DA to drop the charges. It's over Castle," Shaw said and laid her hand on his arms.

"No, he got away. It's not over until Tyson is behind bars."

"Don't worry, we'll find him," Shaw tried to cheer Castle up.

"I don't think so. Not unless he wants us to. We couldn't do it until now."

"Well, now the FBI can work the case. As you said, we have much more experiences and resources in catching serial killers," Shaw said confidently.

"Okay. But what's our next move?"

"Avery has called it in, forensic will be here in few minutes. They can go through the other things."

"Do you mind if I call Ryan and Esposito?" Castle asked.

"No, go ahead."

Castle took out his phone and called Esposito.

"Esposito."

"Hey, Espo."

"Bro, where are you? Are you alright."

"Well, definitely 'no' to the second question. To where I am. In a few minutes, Gates will get a phone call from the FBI. Right now, I'm standing with five FBI agents in an abandoned building in northern Manhattan where we have found Tysons hide-out. We found enough evidence to clear me."

"WHAT? Are you serious?"

"Yes. Listen, Espo. I'll tell you everything you want to know later. I just wanted Kevin and you to hear it from me instead of the Captain. I'm sure that the Captain will want to come out here."

"Alright, bro. See you later."

Nearly 30 minutes later the FBIs forensic team was sweeping the place after the tactical team had searched the whole building to make sure that no one else was here. In the meanwhile, the members of the twelfth precinct and ADA Reagan had arrived at the building. After initial, rather subdued, greetings, they stood together with the FBI agents and Castle to go through the evidence.

"Once he obtained Castle's fingerprints from his loft, he used binding agents and rubber cement to build a model of his fingerprint," Warner pointed out.

"Surveillance photos, architectural plans from Castle's loft, Gina's apartment -" Dash started to lists off.

"A precinct map, including the locations of all of our video cameras. In addition, forensic tech found a police officer uniform with a "J. Rook" nametag. Just like Castle said. He orchestrated everything, right down to the last detail," Warner continued.

"He even implicated Kurtzman to make it look like Castle was covering his tracks," Moss added.

"I don't get it," ADA Reagan said. "Why go through all this just to set you up?"

"Because death only takes a moment. The preparation and pageantry, that's what he loves," Castle stated.

"How would you know?" Gates asked condescendingly.

"He told me himself," Castle replied simply. He was not in the mood to tell her 'told-you-so', although he knew that he'd be vindicated.

"Mr. Castle, you're off the hook. The DAs office will drop all charges."

"Thank you, ADA Reagan."

"For this, at least. But what about his escape from custody?" Gates interrupted heatedly.

Before Castle could say anything, Shaw intervened. "Well, considering the fact that a known serial killer had threaten him and nobody seemed to believe him, he had a legitimate claim to fear for his life. Furthermore, shortly after escaping from your custody, he surrendered himself to the FBI. Surely, under those circumstances you can come to an agreement," Jordan Shaw said in her most authoritative voice. Castle looked at her thankfully.

ADA Reagan normally didn't like to be put under pressure, but considering all the facts she could understand the reasoning. "That is alright with me, Agent Shaw. What do you say, Mr. Castle?"

"That's fine with me, too."

"Hey Castle, where is your family? Should we look for them?" Ryan asked unexpectedly. Beckett, who had been silent until now could have slapped herself. She hadn't even thought of Martha and Alexis.

"No, that's not necessary. They've been under 24/7 protection. Nothing will happen to them, but thanks for asking." His tone made clear to all that he was sure of this.

"Uh, Detective? Why don't you take ADA Reagan and Mr. Castle down to the station and start the paperwork," Gates ordered Beckett. Beckett exchanged a strained look with Castle.

"Can that wait until later? I think Mr. Castle will need a little rest. As he might still be a target and be in danger at his loft, the FBI will offer him a safe house for tonight. I will personally take him to see you tomorrow morning." Once again, Jordan Shaw came to Castle's rescue. He really didn't want to drive all the way back to the precinct with ADA Reagan and Beckett. Especially not with Beckett. He held no ill-will against ADA Reagan. She had only done her job.

"That's alright. We don't need to do the paper now. It's late anyway," Reagan told them.

"As some of the evidence showed that Tyson crossed state lines, his manhunt fell now under the preview of the FBI," Shaw told the group and could see that Gates was gearing up to counter her. She stopped her with a raised hand. "Captain, I have no problems with a joint investigation. When forensic is finished, I'd like to put the building under surveillance. Why don't you have your people talk with my agents to work out the details? Agent Avery has point; he knows how to reach me."

* * *

 **BRIDGE, NIGHT**

After saying goodbye to the rest and promising Ryan and Esposito a full accounting on how and why he got in contact with the FBI, Castle and Shaw departed. After that he had called Martha and Alexis and told them shortly about today's happenings. He asked them to stay under guard for tonight and promised them to meet up the next morning.

They were on the way to the FBI safe house that Shaw had promised him. He didn't really care where he slept tonight, he just wanted to lay down and sleep. They pulled up to the bridge, but were stopped when the safety arm came down as the drawbridge was about to go up. Shaw stopped the car and turned to Castle who had been unusually silent since leaving the not so abandoned building. "You okay?"

Castle sighed. "Yeah. Just thinking about what we have found."

"And?"

"Something about all this still bothers me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just finding that stuff of Tyson's seems rather lucky, don't you think? We haven't even needed more than a day to find him."

"Yeah, well, sometimes luck is all you need."

"I know, but..."

"But you would feel better, if we had arrested him? I understand Castle, but he can't hide now. We'll find him," Shaw tried to assure him. Castle sighed.

"What if he's already seen us and won't come back?" Castle asked.

"Every cop in this city is looking for him. So is the FBI. He won't get far." Shaw told him and Castle nodded. There was a moment of silence.

"Thank you."

"For what?" Shaw asked surprised.

"Believing me. Helping me. I mean, given all the evidence and my following escape, it would've been real easy to just arrest me."

Shaw smiled. "Yeah well, I told why I did it."

Before he could reply a van slammed into them from behind, pushing them through the bridge's guardrail and nearly over the edge. Shaw tried to gain control of the car, but was unsuccessful. They finally came to a stop when they hit the side of the bridge and they took a moment to regroup.

Shaw caught movement in the review mirror when the driver of the other car got out. She recognized the man. "It's Tyson. Castle, get down!" 3XK started shooting at the car. Shaw and Castle both got down. Tyson shot out the back window. Covered by his own car door, Tyson continued shooting at them. It took Shaw a moment to open her door and return fire. Tyson duck back into his car. His window shattered, but Shaw didn't pause. She coldly fired methodically in his direction, even when he slumped over after she had shot him into his chest. Only when he didn't move anymore, Shaw stepped forward to check Tysons body to make sure that he really was dead. He was not. 3XK opened his door and slammed it against Shaw. He caught her off guard, sending her falling onto the ground and forcing her to drop her weapon in the process. Tyson kicked her gun away, pulled her back up and used her as a shield in front of his body. He pressed his gun into her stomach.

"Come here, Castle! I got the girl!" Shaw groaned in pain, but didn't struggle when Tyson moved them forwards. "Are you watching? I want you to see this! Think that I'd let you live after everything you've done? Castle? C'mon! I want you to watch. I want you to watch as I take her life," 3XK gloated. Tyson edged closer to Shaw's car. He peered in, but Castle wasn't there.

After the impact Castle needed a moment to recover his wits. Not questioning Shaw's warning he had immediately duck for cover. Castle had problems moving due to severe pain on the right side of his body. He watched the shootout between Shaw and Tyson. When he saw her hitting Tyson in the chest, he felt relieved. However, the feeling immediately turned into fear, when he helplessly had to watch Tyson overpowering Shaw and taking her hostage. He used the time of the villain's short monologue ( _what a cliché_ ) to move out of the car, unseen thanks to the dark night and the distance. Castle sneaked up on 3XK, when the psychopath looked onto the car.

"Behind you", Castle said and Tyson turned surprised. He tried to draw his gun and aim for the other man, but it was too late. Standing in shooting position, with his gun in his left hand, Castle fired off a shot that hit Tyson. 3XK dropped Shaw and Castle kept on shooting. Tyson stumbled back and slipped over the edge of the bridge, falling down several meters before plummeting into the river below. Shaw turned around to see Castle still standing there with the smoking gun aimed at where Tyson had stood. She stood up and walked to the edge. Castle followed a few seconds behind. Together they peered over the edge, but they couldn't see anything.

A little while later the FBI agents arrived together with Gates, Ryan and Esposito at the scene of the attack. They walked up to Castle and Shaw who were being checked over and treated in an ambulance.

"Hey bro, you alright?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah, just a dislocated shoulder and some bruises."

"How about you, boss?" Moss asked Shaw.

"Just some bruises and contusions."

"What exactly happened? We were just told that you have been attacked," Gates demanded to know.

"We were on the way to the safe house when Tyson rammed us. We had a short shootout. I thought I'd hit him and went to check. He slammed the door against me and took me as a shield. Then he moved us to the car to look after Castle. But Castle snuck up on him and when Tyson turned, Castle shot him and Tyson fell down," Shaw summarized. She was fed up with the attitude of the other women.

"Is he dead?" Ryan wanted to know. Other than Castle, he had been the member of the twelfth precinct who had to suffer the most because of Jerry Tyson. First, he was the detective who had let that psychopath surprise and overwhelm him. Than Tyson had played his sick game with Ryan's stolen gun.

"Maybe," Castle replied curtly. He didn't want to get into that whole topic right now in front of all the people.

"You don't know?" Gates asked heatedly. "How can you not know, Mr. Castle?" She asked indignantly.

"Well Captain," everybody could hear the derision in his voice. "It was dark, we had just crashed our care and I had to shoot with my left hand. And as you have told me over and over again, I'm not a cop, so…"

Before he could go on, Shaw intervened again. "Okay, I think that's enough. Mr. Castle needs his rest. And so do me. We can talk more tomorrow, well, later this morning."

Gates didn't want to wait until later, she wanted her answers now. But the look on Special Agent Shaw's face told her that it would be better to not press the issue right then. So, she just nodded, turned around and left.

"Hey, Ryan, Espo, wait for a minute," Castle asked his friends. "Sure, what's up, bro?" The three stepped aside so nobody could overhear them.

"What I'm going to tell you next, stays between us, and only us three. Okay?" The detectives understood his meaning. Beckett. They looked each other and hold a silent conversation like only good friends and longtime partners could do. _Well, and married people…_ They agreed.

"Here's the deal guy, whether they find him or not, it's over," He told them hoping that they'd get his message without him having to spill it out in detail. They did.

"You sure?" Ryan asked hopefully. Castle just looked him in the eyes. "This was never about me. This was about him. Those initials in her datebook? He's not that careless. He wanted us to find that place. He wanted us on this bridge. Gina's murder, the frame up, all of it was to get us here so we could help him do what he couldn't do for himself. Disappear so he could start killing again."

"You think he planned this?"

"How does a wanted man stop being wanted?" He gestured behind him. "Has to be public and has to be final."

"Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

Castle nodded. "No one would be looking for him anymore."

"So you …"Espo started to say.

"Changed the end of his story," Castle ended the sentence and walked away.

* * *

 **A/N:** Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


	10. Chapter 10

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** After a longer Chapter 9, here a bit shorter Chapter 10 to finish the first story arc which I unofficially had called 'Castle vs 3XK'.

* * *

 **Arc One, Chapter ten**

Despite his insistence that he just needed some rest, Castle had to go the hospital to check for a concussion. When Castle was wheeled back into his hospital room, he was greeted by two emotional red-heads. He had called Marcus on the way to the hospital and told him what had happened.

"DAD." "Richard." His daughter ran to him to ensnare him into a big hug, but the wheelchair made it a bit awkward. Alexis stepped aside to let Martha greet her son. "Darling, how are you feeling?" "Yes dad, are you alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He saw their dubious looks. "Really. I'm a bit banged up and had a dislocated shoulder. That's all. Nothing that a few relaxing days won't heel." This time they believed him that he was physical alright - well, mostly anyway. But both redheads thought that emotionally he wasn't alright and would not be for a while.

"Where is Marcus?" Castle asked them.

"He just stepped out to make some calls. He'll be back in a few minutes." Martha replied.

"Dad, what happened? Uncle Marcus only told us that you had found Tyson and got hurt during the arrest."

Castle sighed. To be honest, he didn't want to talk about what had happened today. However, he knew that they would pester him until he told them the truth. Castle stood up from his wheelchair and went to the windows. Watching out from them, he recounted his harrowing tale. He'd really like to left out the scarier points for their sake (and his), like Tyson's having pictures from inside their home or his threat to have him killed in prison by way of murder-for-hire. But he knew that he couldn't do that. His family was intelligent enough to understand the reasons why he had called in Marcus to protect them. He then told them about calling Agent Shaw, their investigation and how they had found the evidence of his innocence.

"What happened to him?" Martha asked her son. He had hoped that they wouldn't ask but in reality he had known better. So he told them that Tyson had been shot in a fire fight and had fallen down the bridge, not who had been involved. However, both red-heads could hear his trembling voice at the end.

Castle sighed again. He didn't want them to tell anymore. He didn't want to tell his mother and daughter that he had killed someone. It wasn't the fact that he was feeling guilty. He didn't. That was something that was bothering him. He didn't feel guilty at all. Castle didn't know whether the feeling would emerge later or in the coming days, but at the moment he wasn't sorry that he had shot Tyson. However, that was not why he didn't want to tell his family. Truth was, he neither wanted to see their reaction when they learned that he was a killer. Nor did he want to see their pity for having to end someone's life. But he knew that his role would be featured in the news anyway and his family deserved to hear the truth from him. He sighed again and turned to them.

"He was using Jordan, I mean Agent Shaw, as a human shield and threatened to kill her. I have absolutely no doubt that he would have done so. So, I shot him first. I think I emptied the magazine and he fell backwards down the bridge into the river."

"So, is he dead?" Martha asked.

Castle didn't reply immediately, but his family could see the truth. They walked to him and wrapped their arms around him.

"Good." To the elders' surprise, Alexis' voice was full of loathing. She could see their surprise. "Dad, I did see the report on the news about what he had done to Gina. We may have not been as close as friends as we had been before, but we liked each other well enough. I also know that he had killed many women before and I'm sure he would have killed many more. I'm not sorry that he's dead, I'm just sorry he didn't die before he killed Gina and that you were forced to kill him." At the end of her explanation, tears were running down Alexis' face. Castle opened his arms Alexis gladly stepped into them. Castle looked to his mother and opened his arms a bit more. The family of three stood in the hospital room wrapped together in a group hug for a while.

* * *

Castle had to spend the rest of the night at the hospital. The next morning he had breakfast together with his family who had brought breakfast from 'Carries'. Alexis was showing him parts of Captain Gates statement after his arrest on a tablet she had brought.

" _[…] We have found clear evidence at the crime scene and in Mr. Castle's apartment that point to his guilt. He has no alibi for the time of death."_

 _[…] There is no doubt in my mind that he is guilty._

 _[…] It's true that the NYPD in general, and the 12_ _th_ _precinct in particular, derived some benefits from Mr. Castle's presence in the past. His portrait of several detectives offered an inside glimpse at the lives of the dedicated law enforcement personnel to a bright audience. However, despite his accolades as an author, Mr. Castle was just an observer who chronicled some investigations led by the trained men and women of the 12_ _th_ _precinct, he is not an officer. Therefore I don't know whether he thought that he could get away with his crime or not, that he was smarter than our trained detectives or not. But look at his history – he spent most of the last decade sitting around thinking about killing people. Look further back, it was reported quite often that he comes from a broken home with an itinerant mother and several step-fathers. He was expelled multiple times from various schools. Money at a young age, early parenthood and two wrecked marriages. He even has several small offences. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'd say that Mr. Castle has some psychological problems."_

"Wow. I knew that she didn't like me, but, wow…" Castle said to his family.

"I don't know what that woman was thinking." Martha said angrily.

"Well, she's not totally wrong, is she?" The others looked at him. "Well, mother. We did travel a lot in my childhood, I did attend various schools, I did have early success, and two failed marriages."

"Maybe, dad. But what have you done that she dislikes you so much?"

"Well, we started on the wrong foot when she came to the precinct. It got worse after that. We had our first dispute on her first day. She hadn't been at the precinct long when she told me that I were no longer welcome at the precinct and then ordered me to leave. I think she felt humiliated after I called Bob to get back to work in the 12th. I had just undermined her authority at 12th precinct and everybody at the precinct knew it. In hindsight I could have handled that better."

"But you also showed that you could help, but that didn't make her ease up on you." Alexis said

"Darling, what are you going to do about her?"

Castle thought about that for a moment and then came to a decision. "Nothing." The others looked at him surprised.

"Look, anything I do or say now will make the situation even worse. Don't forget that I escaped the precinct on her personal watch. And then helped to find Gina's real killer in less than a day. That and her own statements will come back to haunt her without me doing anything. I am pretty sure when all the facts about last night come to light, she will have to answer some pretty difficult questions from the brass and the press." Martha and Alexis nodded.

"Speaking of press. I called Paula, she is working on a press statement together with media department of the FBI and the hospital. We will hold a short press conference when we leave so that the vultures have something to eat."

* * *

 **Press conference.**

"Hello everybody, I will give a brief statement and will answer a few questions. Then I hope that you will let me and my family in peace as we mourn the death of my ex-wife. […]

Back at the 12th precinct, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito and several other detectives were watching the press conference and listening as Castle recounted the happenings of the previous days.

"So, that's what happened. Now I will take some questions."

[…]

"Rick, what do you say about the statements Captain Gates' made about you?"

"I have no other comment than to say that the Captain is allowed her personal opinion. I want to make it absolutely clear, that I hold no ill-will against either the DA office or the detectives from the 12th precinct. In fact, I commend them. They didn't give me a pass just because they knew me. They did their jobs and followed procedure as they have sworn to do. However, at this point I want to thank Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan for their loyalty and friendship in the face of adversity. They believed in my innocence despite the evidence and I will always be grateful for that. And last but not least, I want to thank Special Agent Jordan Shaw and her team from the FBI for listening to my side of the story after I had surrendered to them and bringing the killer of my ex-wife and several other people to justice. Thank you."

The various members of the 12th precinct reacted differently to the press conference. Some were glad that their friend was proven to be innocent, some were angry that he had made fools out of them and some were looking strangely at Beckett. Nobody had missed the fact that Castle had thanked the male detectives, but not her. Not Beckett who was his muse, the reason why the writer actually had come to their precinct, his close friend and if rumors were too believed even more. However, Richard Castle has just virtually slapped the detective, his muse, on national TV. And he'd done it by not mentioning her at all.

* * *

After the Castle's got home, Rick started to organize Gina's funeral. Gina had been an only child and her parents had died in a car accident a couple of years back. As she had been a very career driven woman, Gina had only made few real friendships. Therefore she had asked Castle to stay on as her next of kin after their divorce and to be the executor of her will. She had even asked him to do so after their failed second try.

The day of the funeral had arrived and Castle sat in the front row and listened to the priest. As per Gina's wishes, her funeral was a private affair with only the Castle's, her closest friends and some colleagues in attendance. Two of those friends were Mayor Robert Weldon and his wife Clara, who had become friends with Gina during her marriage to Castle.

Castle had known that the media would try to get some pictures of the mourner, especially himself and his family. He had made no further public appearance after his release from the hospital and had not spoken to many people outside his family and some friends. He had dodged or ignored all calls, texts or mails from people he deemed nuisances, including the ones from Gates and Beckett. He knew that he would have to deal with them soon. But for now, he wanted to mourn his friend in peace.

Castle let his thoughts wander to the past: his first meeting with Gina, their first date, their marriage. It had been a beautiful ceremony and Gina had been gorgeous bride. Despite his own claims, he truly had loved Gina, but had not been in love with her. They had some good times, some not so good times and some bad times. She could be a pain in the ass, especially in her role as his publisher. But they had made a good team and she had been one reason of his writing success. And for that he would forever be grateful. Castle gathered his thoughts as he stood and made his way to give his eulogy.

* * *

 **A/N:** Just to make sure that there are now surprises going forward: as I know that I have readers who haven't actually seen all Castle episodes, I'm going to continue to write flashbacks and detailed description of some episodes – although I will alter some of them fit my story. Going forward I will also incorporate more and more parts of TheBlackhandHand724 stories on which I have based this fic.


	11. Chapter 11

**American Crime Stories**

 **A/N:** So, after finishing the first story arc in which Castle had to confront 3XK, I'm now ready to start with the second story arc. As I have stated at the end of Chapter 10, I'm going to incorporate more and more parts of TheBlackhandHand724 stories which function as the basis of this fic. However, I will alter some of them to make them fit my story.

* * *

 **Arc Two, Chapter eleven**

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

Several days after Gina's funeral, Castle walked into his living room. It was early in the morning and the sun was shining through the windows. He saw Alexis sitting at the table. His daughter looked like she hadn't slept at all. She was surrounded by piles of books and was furiously scribbling at a piece of paper. He sat down across from her without her noting.

"Either this is the most boring dream I've ever had or you couldn't sleep either."

Alexis sighed. "It's not a dream. More like a nightmare."

"Is this about your valedictorian speech?"

"It's my chance to say something important, something worthy. I don't want to blow it but I feel like I have nothing to say."

"You mean nothing compared to the great sacred texts of mankind, or …" He looked at her papers. "Winston Churchill's speech to Harrow's or Steve Job's address to Stanford." Castle shook his head. He was barely able to keep the smile from his face. "You know, maybe you should pick some speeches a little less daunting to compare yours to. Like um … say anything. Or Twilight!"

"It's not supposed to be this hard," Alexis whined.

"You know, the most worthwhile things in life are often the most difficult."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm sure you will find the right words, you'll always do."

"Thanks, dad."

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have plans this week? I wanted to invite Agent Shaw and her family to thank her in believing me and helping me proof my innocence. If I remember correctly, her daughter is a few years younger than you. Therefore it would be nice if you could be here so that she wouldn't be bored with us old people."

"Hm, I think that's a great idea. I have some plans to meet with friends this week, but most of the time I'm going to work on my speech."

"Great. I'll let you know more after I have talked with her."

* * *

Later that day Castle called Shaw.

"Shaw."

"Hi Jordan, it's Castle."

"Hey, Castle."

"Say, are you working a case?"

"What have you done know, Castle?" Castle could hear the smirk over the phone.

"Funny, Agent Shaw. No, it's nothing like that. I wanted to invite you, your husband and daughter to dinner as a way to thank you for your help."

"That's not necessary, Castle."

"I know, but I want to. I think it would be nice and we could catch up a bit. We didn't have much time the last time. You know, between me trying to convince you not to arrest me on sight and a shootout with a crazed serial killer.

"You know what, that actually sounds like a good idea. And no, I'm not working a case, just doing paperwork. When did you want to meet up?"

"What about later this evening around seven?"

"That's alright. Lacey and I will be there."

Castle wanted to ask about her husband but he decided against it. He could ask her later.

"Okay, see you later."

Castle immediately called Alexis. "Hey, Pumpkin, I spoke to Agent Shaw. She and her daughter will be here later tonight."

"Great, what are we cooking?"

"Um, good question, I'm not sure. What do you think we should make?"

"Let's go with Italian, everyone likes it," Alexis suggested.

"I'll go to the store, bye pumpkin."

* * *

In the evening, Jordan Shaw drove up to the front of Castle's building in Soho and found a parking spot across the street. She and Lacey chose to wear something nice since it wasn't an everyday occurrence to be invited to dinner at a famous - and rich - author's home. The nearly fifteen year old Lacey had decided to wear a black skirt and green light sweater. Her mother on the other hand gone with a dark green dress that stopped just below the knee and had a deep neck line. Both women decided to wear heels to put them on the right side of the five and a half foot mark. They approached the front door and were intercepted by a hulking huge man in a black suit. The man looked like a linebacker and Jordan's trained eye's spotted a gun under his jacket. "May I help you?" he asked in a deep rumbling voice.

"Special Agent Jordan Shaw," Jordan said while flashing her badge, "we're here to see Richard Castle." She instantly realized that her introduction had sounded too official. "Uh, he's expecting us." She said with a smile and pointed to the bottle of red wine Lacey was carrying.

"A moment please." The man said and walked back to his security desk. There he looked through a book and nodded. "Yes, you're on the list. Sorry about that Agent Shaw, but this is a secure building."

"That's quite alright." Jordan said as the man walked them to the elevator.

"Mr. Castle's loft is on the 6th floor," he said and pressed the number six button. "Have a nice evening," he said as the doors closed.

* * *

During the same time Castle was standing in front of the stove watching his bowtie pasta cook, while stirring his cream sauce. Alexis was upstairs getting dressed. The radio was on and Rick was singing along to a song when he heard a knock at the front door. He moved his sauce off the burner and wiped his hands on a towel which hang off the front of his apron. He walked to the door to let his guests in. When he opened the door his jaw fell open. Jordan Shaw did look quite different in a dress than Special Agent Shaw in a power suit.

"You going to let us in or what?" Shaw asked with a smirk.

"Right! Sorry, got lost there for a second. Come on in." He turned to the younger Shaw and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Rick Castle. It's nice to meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Castle, I'm Lacey." She said a bit nervously, but shook his hands. Then she handed Castle the bottle of wine.

"Ah, none of that Mr. Castle. That makes me feel old. I'm Rick." He turned to Jordan. "That's the same for you, too, Jordan." Both Shaw's nodded.

"Alright. Now, take a seat at the bar. Dinner is almost ready. I hope you guys like Italian." Castle said as he took Jordan's light jacket and hung it up. He went to the kitchen.

"Yes, we both like it." Lacey told him. They heard a noise and turned to see Alexis coming down the stairs in a black skirt and a red t-shirt. She confidently walked over to the two women and held out her hand and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Alexis," she said with a smile, as she shook Jordan's and Lacey's hands. She then walked around the counter to look inside the oven. The smell of fresh garlic hit the two guests like a wall.

"Can I get you ladies anything to drink?" Rick asked.

"I'll take a glass of wine," Jordan said as she took a seat at the counter. Castle nodded and went to the bottle of wine he had chosen for the meal.

"What about you, Lacey?" Castle asked as he handed Jordan her glass.

"Um, what do you have?", she asked shyly.

Alexis pulled open the refrigerator to show her the shelves full of soft drinks and fruit juices. "Just about everything. Do you like orange juice?" Alexis asked.

"Yes."

"Then you have to try this one." Alexis said as she got out a glass bottle and a tall glass, and put them on the bar in front of Lacey. "It's all organic, made by a specialty company in California. It's one of my favorites." Alexis poured the juice into a glass and handed it over to the younger girl.

"WOW, this really is good. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Alexis said as she turned around to check her dad's pasta.

"So what are you cooking, Rick?" Jordan asked, smiling. Lacey had been quite nervous at meeting the Castle's and Jordan was happy to see her daughter relaxing. It seemed that Castle's daughter was a people person just like her dad. She watched as the father/daughter duo worked effortless hand-in-hand to pull together the meal. She could see that they had a lot a practice. For her as a profiler, it was quite interesting to see.

"We're making a fresh tossed salad for starter. Then garlic stuffed and baked chicken breast, over bowtie pasta with a broccoli cream sauce for the main course. For dessert I picked a chocolate cheese cake." Castle told them as he drained the noodles.

"Wow, you can actually cook all that?" Jordan asked impressed by the menu, even though she knew that his daughter had helped him.

"Yeah, cooking is one of my hobbies," Castle said.

"Do you cook often together?" Lacey asked Alexis.

"Yes. It's a bit difficult to work around school and all the appointments dad and grams have. Although we eat take-out food regularly, we try to eat cook as much as possible. Well, dad and I cook, grams not so much." Castle had to laugh at that comment.

"No, Martha Rodgers has a lot of talents - or so she claims. Cooking is definitely not one of them." Castle told his guests. "By the way, my mother is very sorry that she couldn't be here, but she is out of town this week."

"That's alright. Maybe we get to meet her some other times," Jordan said.

For the rest of the meal the conversation flowed smoothly between the four of them until Alexis asked Lacey about her school. That got a surprise reaction, when the younger Shaw answered with a growl. "Lacey!" Her mother admonished directly.

"Sorry, mum. Sorry, Rick and Alexis. I'm just frustrated." She apologized but didn't say anything else. Castle looked to Shaw for an explanation. "Yesterday, we had a meeting with the Dean of Admissions for one of the more prestigious prep schools in the city. The school has the most technologically advanced program that pushes students to be on the cutting edge of the digital world. They also have the most advanced placement classes available. That means that if the student is driven, he or she can a lot of college credits before they even leave high school. The Dean was very impressed with Lacey, her test scores and her GPA. However, he wasn't impressed enough to get her to admit immediately, but said he would put her high on the waiting list. He offered to talk with their partner schools in London and Paris, so that Lacey could study abroad."

"But that's not what I want." Lacey said stubbornly.

During the explanation, the Castle's had looked at each other and realized that they had the same thought.

"You're talking about Marlowe Prep, aren't you?" Castle asked.

Both Shaw's looked at him questioningly. "How do you know?" Jordan asked.

"You're looking at the Marlowe valedictorian of Class 2012." Castle said proudly and pointed to his daughter.

Jordan congratulated Alexis, but her daughter was full of questions. "Really? What is the school like? How are the teachers? Which courses do you like best?"

"Wow, Lacey. Give Alexis the chance to answer your questions." Jordan admonished her daughter, though rather half-heartedly.

"I have a better idea. Girls, why don't you grab some dessert and go upstairs and talk. Then Alexis can answer all your questions," Rick suggested. Lacey looked to the older girl so hopefully that Alexis had to chuckle. The other girl reminded her strongly about herself. "Sure, let's clean first, then we can go upstairs." Together they cleaned the table. The girls moved upstairs to Alexis' room and Rick and Jordan moved to the living room with their coffees.

Jordan turned to Rick. "Sorry about Lacey. She was really disappointed. It's her dream to become a FBI profiler like me. However, she wants to get her degree in criminology faster than I did and get one over her mother." Shaw explained and rolled her eye and Castle chuckled. "Don't worry. It's great to see someone so young so excited about school. And Marlowe Prep really is a good school."

"I know. I want her to attend Marlowe hoping that she'll be exposed to a vast range of subjects and maybe find something else to do with her life," Shaw explained.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Lacey is young, my mother told me that teenaged girls try on personalities like they do clothes. This week she wants to be a FBI agent, next week she wants to be a judge, the week after that a writer. Alexis was the same way, at least for a while. When she was younger she wanted to be an actress like her mother and grandmother. Then she saw a reportage on TV and decided that she wanted to be a civil liberties lawyer. Funnily enough, she never wanted to study literature and become an author. At the moment she hasn't decided what or where she wants to study, but she seems to have a very clear idea of which classes she wants to take," Rick told her. Jordan didn't get the feeling that he was bothered by the fact that his daughter didn't want to follow in his footsteps. "Were you like that as a kid, too?" Castle asked.

"Not quite. I've always been good at puzzles, and I wanted to help people. So I thought about becoming a doctor, a lawyer or a cop. When I got older I decided to major in criminology. One of my professors talked to me about joining the FBI. So, I applied and was lucky enough to get through all tests and requirements. Then I went through the 21-week training program at the FBI academy in Quantico. And the rest is, as they say, history," Jordan told him the abridged version of her becoming a FBI Agent. "What about you? Did you always become a writer? " Jordan asked taking a sip from her coffee cup.

That was a question Castle obviously had to answer countless times during his career and so had several prepared answers which he would normally use. However, this time he didn't want to fall back on those statements and decided to give Jordan a more personal answer.

"Kind of. I grew up watching a lot of TV, so I wanted to do the cool jobs like a firefighter. Then I wanted to be a doctor like the guys on the soap operas my nannies used to watch. That changed when I found out that I had to cut people open and that it would involve a lot of studying. Later I wanted to become a cop or P.I. like Jim Rockford or Magnum." Rick paused a moment and took a sip of his coffee. "Those nannies I mentioned, they used to spend most of their time watching daytime television. That and the scripts mother would bring home inspired me to write my own stories. I started to write several stories when I was young. Being exposed to so much cop shows on TV, I started out writing crime stories. They got a bit darker as I grew up. Sometimes I'd give my friends some stories to read. As time went by, and my stories got darker, I realized that my stories tended to scare my friends. I realized that I had a talent to effect human emotion as a good storyteller of thrillers. When I hit puberty and lost all interest in reading and stopped writing. Then I was transferred to Edgewyck Academy. Homesick and without friends, I turned back to writing. One of the older students, the literary magazine editor, saw me writing and one day asked to read one of stories. So I gave him one, and I guess, I impressed him. He took me under his wing, encouraged and mentored me." Castle stopped for a moment. Having had his image of Damian Westlake shattered still bothered him immensely. "Eventually, I decided to combine my interests and took courses in criminology and literature in college. I was lucky that Black Pawn decided to give me a chance, as other publishers had rejected 'In a Hail of Bullets' multiple times. During that time I had met Meredith, my first wife. After a short whirlwind romance she ended up pregnant and we decided to get married. When we split, I got sole custody of Alexis. At this point I realized two important things: First, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my daughter. Second, I saw how much money I could make writing books. Therefore I decided to continue writing, and not pursue a career as a cop."

"That is what I hope will happen to Lacey, too. It's bad enough that I risk my life on a regular basis, the last thing I want is for my daughter to do the same."

"I think I understand." Castle paused, thought for a moment and then looked at Shaw. "Do you want me to talk to Walter?"

"Walter?" Shaw didn't know who he meant.

"Sorry. I mean Walter Parker, the Dean of Admissions of Marlowe Prep."

That left Shaw flabbergasted. "You would do that?"

"Sure. I mean, I can make you no promises but I am one of their better donors."

"Why?" Jordan Shaw couldn't help herself, a little suspicion crept into her voice. But whether Castle had recognized that or not, she couldn't tell. It didn't seem to bother.

"As I said, it is great to see someone so young so excited about school. And I owe you."

"No, you don't. I did my job." Shaw replied immediately which she really meant. Castle wanted to argue but decided against it. "So, do you want me to call Walter or not?"

Shaw considered that for a moment. Normally, she didn't like it when people took advantage of their connections. But in the end she decided that she rather be a hypocrite with a happy daughter than the other way around. What parents won't do for their children… "Alright, Rick. I would be grateful if you could give the Dean a call. Thank you."

"Okay, that's settled then." They sat in silence for a moment. "I hope, I'm not too forward, but I expected to meet your husband. Why didn't you bring him?" Castle asked and Shaw sighed.

"I didn't bring him because we're no longer married."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I asked."

"No, it's alright. You didn't know. It happened early last year. I finished up an investigation earlier than predicted. It was a bad one and I was looking forward to getting home to my husband and spend some quality time with him. So, I called Lacey and asked her to spend the night with some friends. However, when I got home, I saw my ex working on his young secretary, dotting her T's and making her eye's crossed. Lacey and I moved out the next day." She told him and he could hear the pain in her voice. Without saying anything, Castle stood up and went to the kitchen. There he grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. He went back, filled the glasses and silently handed on to Shaw.

Castle felt sorry for her, as he knew exactly how she was feeling. Because she had told him such personal information, Castle decided to share his experience. "You know, I know exactly how you feel." He didn't like to talk about the failures of his marriages, especially not the first one. She looked at him in surprise and waited for him to continue. "It wasn't too long after Alexis was born, that I found Meredith and her director rehearse a love scene from their show. Apparently, she needed to help with her 'under cover' work," he deadpanned. They sat in companionable silence.

* * *

Upstairs the girls had been talking about Marlowe Prep, its courses and teachers and then switched to other topics. Despite their age gap, Alexis took an instant liking to the younger girl. She always liked to meet other studious students. They were now talking about music. Alexis was sitting at her desk in front of her laptop showing Lacey the new songs she had downloaded.

"I love 'Weird Sisters'. They're just so much fun to listen to. All of their songs are upbeat and fun," said Alexis.

"I like them, but I prefer something a little more poppy, you know?" Lacey replied.

"I know what you mean. I also listen to a lot of different styles of music. Rock, pop. Sometimes a bit techno and even classics. The last one mostly because I play the violin," Alexis said and pointed at the case sitting on her bed.

"That's cool. I always wanted to play an instrument, but I could never find one that fit me," Lacey told the older girl.

"I was like that until I picked up a violin, it just fit. I love playing it, although I don't play as much as I used to."

"Why not?"

"Well, I just didn't have as much time as I used to. Besides playing the violin, I take fencing lessons, was in the cheer squad at school, served in a class advocate role in student government, and I even served as an assistant manager of the school play." Alexis listed her activities.

"Wow, that's a lot activities."

"Well, besides that I worked an internship at the precinct where dad worked and one at the M.E. office. And there was also actually school work to do."

"Did your dad make you take the internships?"

"No, my dad would never do that. I wanted to do them. In fact, I think I didn't even ask him until the last moment," Alexis said the last part wryly.

"Your father sounds nice." Alexis could hear a bit wistfulness in Lacey's tone.

"What about your father? Are you close?"

"Well, I thought so. Then my mum found dad cheating on her with his secretary. We left the next day. He hasn't tried to stay in contact much."

"I know what it's like to be a child of divorce. How was it before then?" Alexis asked.

"He was always working, but so was mom. I was mostly raised by my grandmother. Although my mum tried to minimize the times as much as possible, she had to leave the city for days on occasion.

My dad works as a lawyer in New York, so I spent more time with him. Looking back, I realize that he never really cared about how I was doing in school or helped me with my homework. Unlike mum who even while working a case called as much as she could. So, it's fair to say that I was always closer to my mom."

"My dad is the total opposite. He is super affectionate, and he loves to hear about my day and spent as much time with me as possible. Even as a child, he took me to the park all the time." Alexis had realized early on that she had lucked out with her father and was very thankful that her dad was so great.

The two girls talked for a while longer when Kelly yawned. "Sorry, but I'm tired."

Alexis looked down at her watch and saw it was approaching ten p.m. "Yeah, it's getting late anyway. Let's go down and see what our parents are doing?"

A few minutes later, the Shaw's said their goodbyes and drove home.


	12. Chapter 12

**American Crime Stories**

 **Arc two, Chapter twelve**

* * *

 **NEW YORK CITY – Random Diner**

The following weekend, Rick and Alexis went for a brunch together. Alexis was getting more and more frantic the nearer her graduation came. She was driving herself mad, so Rick had decided that she needed a break. Convincing her of the same had not been an easy task, but in the end his daughter had complied.

They were sitting in a booth, waiting for their breakfast. He had asked his daughter a question but instead of answering him, Alexis was looking at two people that had just walked into the diner.

"Hey, look dad, that's Lacey and Agent Shaw." Alexis said. Rick turned around to have a look. Rick wasn't sure as it was hard to tell from where he was sitting. Then the older woman turned to look in their direction and Rick's eyes locked with Jordan's. "Yeah, pumpkin, you're right." He looked around and saw that the diner was full and the Shaw's would have to wait. "It's pretty full here. Do you mind having them join us?"

"No dad, it's alright."

"Thanks pumpkin." Rick said, stood up and walked up to the Shaw's. Lacey was the first one to see him. She gently slapped her mother on the arm and pointed in his direction. Jordan turned around just in time to see Rick walk up to them. "Hello ladies, it's a nice surprise to see you again."

"Hello, Rick/Castle." The Shaw's greeted him.

"Look, it's pretty busy here. What do you say, want to join Alexis and me?"

Jordan looked to her daughter. Sunday brunch was their fixed date in the week – unless Jordan had a case to work. The hopeful eyes of her daughter were answer enough. She really had liked Castle and especially Alexis. On their way home from their dinner, Lacey couldn't stop talking about the older girl.

"Sure. Lead the way." The three walked over to the booth. Lacey slid into the bench with Alexis leaving Jordan the seat next to Rick.

"Thank you for sharing your table with us. It's hard to get a seat in this place on the weekends," Jordan said to Alexis.

"No problem, Agent Shaw. We don't mind."

The waiter came over. Jordan ordered a bacon and cheese omelet and a side of hash browns. Lacey ordered the strawberry waffles, and some eggs.

"So what brings you guys here this morning?" Lacey asked.

"Well, Alexis is driving herself crazy with her valedictorian speech, so I forced her to take a break." Both Shaw's turned to Alexis who glared at her father, but they could see that she wasn't really mad with her father. "What about you?"

"We come here every Sunday if mom is home. We only live a few blocks from here," Lacey said with a smile.

The four of them talked throughout their breakfast. Rick had enjoyed his plate of French toast. The food in this place was good, but not as good as in "Carries Corner".

"So what are you ladies doing today?" Rick asked after the waitress had cleared their table.

"Well, the movie theater around the corner has an animated film marathon. I really want to go see that but mum isn't very fond of the idea."

"Lacey, I told you I would go with you."

"I know mum, but you'd only do that for me and not because you'd enjoy it." The look on Jordan's face told everybody the truth of that statement. Before she could say anything else, Alexis spoke up.

"Why don't I go with instead of your mum?"

"Really?" Lacey asked hopefully. She really wanted to spend more time with Alexis and going to the movies would be an added bonus.

"Sure. Dad has forbidden me to work on my speech today. Instead he has ordered me to do something fun." She accompanied her statement with an exasperated rolling of her eyes which made Jordan chuckle. "I haven't made any plans yet but the movie marathon sounds like fun. Unlike your mum, I'd really enjoy it." Alexis turned to Jordan. "If that is alright with you, Agent Shaw?"

Lacey looked to her mum. Jordan could see that her daughter would like that very much and told them that she had no objections.

In the end, Jordan decided to join Castle for another coffee while their kids went to the movies.

"It's great meeting your daughter and seeing that she is actually as impressive as you make her out to be."

"You wound me, Agent Shaw. Would I lie about how special my daughter is?" Short pause. "Wait, don't answer that." Jordan chuckled.

"Lacey was impressed, too. She told me that they talked about Marlowe Prep and college." Hearing the hated c-word, Castle cringed.

"So, are you ready for your daughter to go to college?" Shaw asked sheepishly, having seen Castle's reaction.

"No, not really. She is far too young to leave home, especially if she decides to go out of the state. It's too far from home."

Shaw smiled. "I think it is you who is far too young for her to leave your home. You've rather she's still be ten years old? Isn't that it?"

"Maybe," Castle conceded with a pout, and then smiled mischievously. "But don't look so smug. It's only a few years until Lacey goes off to college." Thinking about the truth of that statement, Jordan lost her smug smile.

Castle sighed again. "You know, she turned eighteen a few months ago. To be honest, she is definitely better prepared for college and the challenges it involves than I was at her age. I'm so grateful that she is that responsible. I know that she has a good head on her shoulders and that she will succeed in everything she decides to do. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Yeah, to be honest with you. I'm fretting the time that Lacey will leave the nest, too. Maybe we'll get lucky and both our daughters decide not to go too far away. Maybe they'll decide to go to Columbia or Princeton, or somewhere else close to New York."

"I hope so for my poor heart."

"I know that Alexis' got some acceptance letters. Has she told you her preference yet?"

"No, she hasn't told me anything yet. She got accepted to Oxford, Princeton, Sarah Lawrence and even Stanford. It's funny. For most of her childhood she had wanted to go to Stanford but they rejected an early admission last year. She feels betrayed, she doesn't know how to get over the fact they have rejected her in the past." Castle paused for a moment, before he continued to speak.

"And after everything that has happened in the past weeks, we haven't talked about it much. We both had to come to terms with Gina's death. In addition to that, Alexis is preoccupied with her valedictorian speech. She is taking that very seriously. The other day I found her pouring over Winston Churchill's speech to Harrow's and Steve Job's address to Stanford." Castle said, shaking his head.

"And let me guess, you don't understand why she is taking it so seriously?"

"Well, yes and no. Of course, intellectually I understand the pressure she is feeling as valedictorian…"

"But on the other hand, you don't really understand why she's taking her graduation speech so seriously."

"Yeah," he conceded.

"You were probably the guy who had nothing on but boxers underneath his gown," Shaw said.

"That is so insulting," Castle said dramatically. "If you must know, I was stark naked underneath," he said proudly.

"Oh, I – I'm sorry. I stand corrected." They both smiled at their banter. For two people who didn't know each other that well they had a surprisingly easy time talking to each other.

"So, how is the father of the graduate taking it?"

Castle sighed. "I already have a plan to drown my sorrows after the ceremony. My mother goes off to the Hamptons, Alexis will be doing her all-nighter. I will be distracting myself with a double feature of The Killer and Hard Boiled."

"Wow. That is some double feature."

"You like John Woo?"

"The bloodier the better," Shaw responded.

"Despite your job?"

"It doesn't bother me, I have seen worse things in real life."

Castle thought for a moment. "Hey, why don't you and Lacey accompany mother and me to the graduation? Then you both can check and see what you have to look forward to in four years. Afterwards we can get something to eat and watch movies together. Maybe we will go with comedy instead of those action movies."

His suggestion surprised Jordan and she thought about it for a moment. Although they had had a good time during dinner and now brunch, this was something unexpected. She had a demanding job which left her not a lot of free time to socialize outside of it. The little time she had, she usually tried to spend with her daughter – especially since her divorce. Sure, they would go visit some of their families from time to time, but that's pretty much all socializing Shaw would do. That's why she enjoyed spending time with the writer and talking with him about anything that came to her mind. 'Though unsurprisingly, most of the time they spoke about their respective daughters. In the end she couldn't find a reason why Lacey and she shouldn't go to the graduation with the Castle's.

"Okay, that's sounds interesting."

"Great." There was a short silence in which both smiled. Then Jordan turned serious.

"Listen Castle, it's good that we've met. I actually planned to call you today." Shaw sighed. "Last night, a body washed up on a river bank. We're pretty sure that Tyson." She watched Castle closely but he didn't react. "You don't look surprised?"

Castle sighed. "Why would I? I mean, I shot at him several times. I don't think it's very surprising that I got a lucky shot in," Castle said. He knew better of course but didn't want to tell Jordan that. At least not yet. They may have started to become friends but in no way did he want to tell her that he had actually aimed for Tyson's head. At least not yet. He had witnessed Jordan shooting him in the chest before he had surprised and overpowered her. Castle had realized that Tyson must have worn a bulletproof vest. So he had aimed at another target. He had wanted Tyson dead, and now he was. He hadn't had much time to ponder about the fact that he had taken a life. It wasn't the first time, but not many people actually knew that fact. Not Martha and especially not Alexis. He didn't want to think about that now and concentrated back on Jordan. He saw that she had watched him closely but before she could say anything, his phone rang. He saw that is way Ryan calling and pondered whether he should take the call. He sighed, turned to Jordan, apologized and took the call.

"Hey Ryan."

"Hey Castle, sorry for calling. I know you wanted some time for away from the precinct." That was true. He had been pleasantly surprised to see Ryan and Esposito at Gina's funeral and told them so when they had spoken for a few minutes. They told him that both of them had felt the need to be there for their friend. Nobody had said anything about Beckett. At the end of their short meeting he had told them that he wouldn't come back to the precinct for a while, if at all.

"It's okay, Kevin. Why did you call?"

"Earlier this morning we got to a crime scene. The victim, Orlando Costas, was hit in the shoulder with a 357, but he was killed execution style with a 9 millimeter in the head. We learned that Costas was a thief. He had a couple of domestic B and E's, but was suspected of a dozen more. He also used to run with the Cazadores."

"Cazadores?"

"They're a violent street gang that deals in drugs, arms, and larceny. Anyway Costas priors were back when he was a teenager and he wasn't arrested in years. In fact, we later found out that he cleaned up his act. He did 4 years active in the military and was discharged with honors last year. He spent his rotation as an MP in Germany."

"If this guy went straight then how did he end up dead in an alley?"

"His girlfriend told us that she went to bed him with, but when she woke up, he'd been gone. She figured that he went to the career center to check the job listings which he did every morning."

"So, he'd been looking for work?"

"Yes, but without luck. Anyway, the girlfriend gave us the model of the car which we found in an empty alley to blocks away from our murder scene. In the car we found blood smeared on the armrest. We also found a .38. So, we figured that our victim was shot somewhere else first and then met someone in the alleyway."

"Okay, so what's the problem? I don't mean to be rude, and as tragic as his death is, what does that have to do with me?"

"We checked his phone, his last entry was Montgomery's address. Turns out that Costas did get back to his old habits, but ran into a bit of trouble."

Castle sat up straight. "Are Evelyn and her kids alright?" Jordan who had listened to Castle's side of the call, realized that something had happened to one of his friends.

"Everybody is fine. Evelyn was there, but the girls weren't. She was the one that had shot Costas in the shoulder. I thought that you wanted to know."

"Of course, Kevin. I'm on my way, meet you at the house."

"Okay, Castle. See you there."

Castle turned off his phone and turned to Jordan. "I heard, Castle. You have to go. Is everything okay?"

"Not really. You remember Captain Montgomery?" Jordan nodded.

"Somebody broke in to his widow's home. She shot the burglar, but later he was later found in an alley shot execution style."

"Okay, go to your friend's house."

"Thanks, Jordan."

* * *

 **CAPTAIN MONTGOMERY'S HOUSE**

 **299 First Avenue, New York City**

When Castle got Ryan's call about their current case, he got a bad feeling. A very bad feeling. He truly hoped that the break-in into his former Captain's house was just a coincidence, but deep down he knew better. That's why he didn't have to think about meeting the detectives at Montgomery's. He knew that SHE would be there, but he decided to ignore her as much as possible. Just like he had since she had arrested him. Knowing her as he did, he was pretty sure that she would do the same thing. It was, after all, her modus operandi. Ignoring everything that made her uncomfortable, hiding behind a wall. At the moment, he was fine with that. He knew that one day they would have to have another heart-to-heart. But the day was not today.

Castle made some calls on his way to the house. There was a protection detail on their way that would protect the Montgomery's. Having a bad feeling, he had asked Marcus to send someone to watch over Martha and Alexis.

When he got to Montgomery's house, he was greeted by Ryan. They had agreed to meet outside so that Ryan could bring him up-to-date.

"Hey man, thanks for coming."

"No problem. So what happened?"

"The children weren't at home, and Evelyn said she hadn't intended to be there, either…" Kevin told Castle everything they had found out so far.

They walked into the house where Castle looked around. He could see were CSU had catalogued blood spatter and digged out bullet from the doorframe. They walked into the study where they were greeted with an irritated Beckett, "Castle, what are you doing here?" She asked him rather heatedly.

"Beckett," he greeted her coldly. "Kevin called me," he responded shortly. "Excuse me." Castle walked pass her to greet Evelyn Montgomery.

"Hello Evelyn," he hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello Rick. It's nice to see you so again. Even if it is under those circumstances."

"Why didn't you call me? I would've come out here immediately."

"I'd call the police and they investigated. There was nothing more you could have done."

"We're just thankful no one was hurt," Ryan said as he walked up to them.

"Believe me, so am I. Ever since Roy died I've slept with his .357 in the nightstand." She turned to Castle. "I'm glad you convinced me to go to the shooting range again."

"Yeah, so am I," Castle replied. "I'm glad Evan and the girls weren't home."

"Funny thing is, I wasn't supposed to be home either. It's almost like he knew we weren't supposed to be here."

"Wait," Beckett injected. "When did you two see each other?"

"Since Roy's death, Rick and I met each other once every few weeks. He's been a good friend," Evelyn told the three detectives. The three detectives looked all a bit embarrassed since they hadn't made any effort to stay in contact with their former Captain's widow. Beckett felt especially bad, as Evelyn had sent her a card to the hospital.

"Anyway, not that I'm complaining, but why are you here, Kate?" Evelyn asked.

"It's about you're thief. Is this the guy?" Beckett showed her a photo of Costas. Evelyn studied it.

"Yeah, that's him. I heard a noise and went to check it out. When I came in here, he was taking files out of the cabinet. I could see that he had Roy's old laptop in his backpack already. When he saw me he pulled his weapon, so God help me I shot him. I think I hit him in his shoulder. He fired back, and then he crashed through the window," Evelyn described what had happened the previous night. Castle looked over her shoulder to the bullet hole in a clock at the end of the hallway.

"Anything special about those files?" Beckett asked.

Evelyn thought about for a moment and shook her head. "Just paperwork, legal documents, notes on Roy's old cases."

"What about his computer? What was on that?" Esposito interjected.

"His old work files, but mostly I use it for Christmas cards and recipes."

Castle and the others left a few minutes later. "They went after Montgomery's files. Not valuables, not cash. And now our thief is dead and the files they took are missing," Beckett said. Castle sighed internally, his previous feelings that this would be bad had been confirmed. "Well let's not jump to conclusions," he cautioned. Although he knew that she would ignore it. He could see that she had already decided what this was all about.

"What else would it be about? Everyone else thinks Montgomery died bringing a cop killer to justice. We're the only ones who know what he was really involved in. And his connection to my mother's murder. It can't be a coincidence," Beckett stated harshly. "You know those guys Montgomery was involved with, he said that they wanted me dead. That I was getting too close and he said that he was going to give his life in order to protect mine. And they still tried to kill me." Beckett paused. "Maybe he had some files on them. We've never checked his belongings."

"Beckett, there are thousands of break-ins in New York City every year," Castle tried again to steer her away from that line of thinking. The boys were quite throughout the conversation.

"This one feels different."

"Well, that doesn't mean that it is."

"Then why is our thief dead?" She asked harshly.

"Montgomery worked hundreds of cases over the years. Just because this guy goes after files doesn't mean he was after your mom's case."

"He's right, Beckett," Esposito interjected. Ran nodded.

Beckett sighed. Although, she didn't like it, and did not really believe it, she had to concede that the others had a point. She turned to Esposito. "Re-check the victim's rap sheet, see if Montgomery was involved in any of his old arrests and get on that number. I want to know who he was talking with just before he died," she ordered the boys. "What about you Castle? Are you coming back to the precinct?"

Castle thought for a moment. "No. I have no intention to step a foot into the precinct when Gates is in her office. I call you guys later."

"Whatever," Beckett said turned and walked away.

Castle turned the others. "Look guys, we all know that it is possible that the break-in was about the conspiracy around Johanna Beckett's murder. But it is also likely that it is not, even if the chances are small. You've seen Beckett, she has already decided what this is about and will focus on that. And only that. So it's on you guys to look at the investigation and the facts with an open mind." Esposito and Ryan looked at each other. Although they were pretty sure themselves that Beckett was right, they both agreed with Castle.

"Oh, and another thing. Be careful, guys. Whoever is behind this break-in knew that the house was supposed to be empty. That means that they have monitored her and her family. Remember the last time we investigated anything to do with Johanna Beckett murder? They had someone watching us then, too. You were taken, Montgomery killed and Beckett shot." Castle warned them. The boys looked grim. They understood Castle's warning.

* * *

 **CASTLE'S LOFT**

After he left Evelyn's house, Rick went straight home. He was now in his office, studying his murder board on the Dragon. That's how Martha found him, when she walked into his office.

"Do you really think it's connected to her mother's murder case?" They had spoken shortly after he had come home, and he had updated her on the break-in. He had told his mother only the broadest aspects of his private investigation in the past, so she knew what he was doing. She didn't know the facts, didn't know that he knew the people responsible. He would keep it that way and not tell her anything to specific before he was sure that it was safe for all of them.

"Yeah, I do. I'm just surprised that it took them so long. We thought about checking Roy's files a months ago. That's how Marcus and his team found my mystery caller. But I can't tell Beckett and the guys that and that's the problem. As soon as I tell her about Smith, everything else will take second place. She will immediately obsess about Smith and my connection to him."

"So you'd rather withheld vital information to the case?" Martha asked her son. Castle gave his mother a look.

"Don't look so surprised, Richard. I do know some technical terms from my time working on NYPD Blue."

"Mother, you played a murder victim. You had less than a minute screen time."

"Well, I did a lot of research."

"I'm sure you did, mother." They smiled at each other but then the moment of levity was over.

"For some reason, the man behind this conspiracy has decided to take the deal with Smith off the table," Castle said. "And as I said, as soon as I tell Beckett about Smith, she's going to try and identify him. Our only advantage at this point is that nobody knows that we know about Smith or that we have already identified him. If the people responsible learn that Beckett is looking for Smith, they'll come after her again. Despite all the things that happened between us, I don't want her to get hurt."

Martha forced a smile and took a step forward, "I know."

"But I don't know what I can do to stop it? We may have gathered a lot of information, but we still haven't fully checked them."

"You told me that you wanted to talk to Agent Shaw and that you had a plan to involve other law enforcement officers. Maybe it's time to do that now?"

Castle sighed and put his right hand through his hair. "I don't want to do that now. As soon as I talk to them, things will get dangerous immediately. For all of us. I want you and Alexis out of the city for that. However, that's not going to happen until after Alexis' graduation in a few days. When you go to the Hamptons', you will have a close protection details around the clock."

"Richard, although you did tell me a few things about your investigation, you were remarkably vague about the details. From everything you told me, I don't think you have too much time left before it gets too dangerous. So you should really think about talking to Agent Shaw as soon as possible. Before it's too late for everybody involved." Martha said, put her right hand on her son's shoulder and walked out.

Castle closed his eyes thought about his mother's words. He was quiet for several minutes, thinking about his next steps. As he always did, he wrote various scenarios about how the story could go on from this point of time. Not on paper, but in his mind. Then he opened his eyes. Decision made, he took out his phone and called his friend Marcus. It was time to put their plan into motion.


	13. Chapter 13

**American Crime Stories**

 **Arc two, Chapter thirteen**

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

The next day, Beckett and Esposito were standing in front of the murder board, trying to piece things together, when Castle called Esposito.

"Hey bro, where are you? We thought that you would come in today."

"I'm at home. As I told you yesterday, I have no intention to come to the precinct when Gates is there."

"Gates is at 1PP today. Anyway let me put you on speaker phone, Beckett is with me."

"Anything new on our victim?"

"We rechecked Orlando's rap sheet. Montgomery wasn't involved in any of his old arrests. That break-in wasn't personal," Esposito told him.

"What about the call he made before he was killed?"

"It's from a burner phone. There's no registered owner."

"Okay."

"Hey." Ryan walked up to the detectives.

"Hey bro. We have Castle on speaker phone," Esposito told his partner.

"Hey man," Ryan greeted Castle. "So we may have been wrong about why they hit Montgomery's," Ryan told them. "Witnesses saw a Hispanic male fleeing the alley in an old maroon DeVille. Apparently he had gang ink on his neck. A lion framed by a C," Ryan explained to the others.

"Cazadore?" Beckett asked.

"The very same gang our victim ran with," Ryan confirmed.

"Gangs," Beckett muttered. There seemed to be a connection. Esposito had the same idea. "If this guy was in that alley, odds are he killed Orlando."

"Did we get a license plate?"

"Uh, no. But according to gang task force, the ride matches the car of one Vincente Delgato. High level shot caller for the Cazadores. And get this, his cousin, Diego Guetierrez, was busted by Montgomery for a double homicide back in '95," Ryan answered Beckett's questions.

"His lawyers filed a motion for retrial a month after Montgomery was killed," Ryan told them.

"Find him," Beckett ordered and walked away.

Castle listened to the detective's conversation. That new information could help to convince them that this whole robbery had nothing to do with Beckett and her mom's case after all. 'Though he really didn't believe that himself. "Huh, didn't see that one coming," said Castle over the phone.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION**

Later that day, Beckett and Esposito were interrogating Diego Guetierrez who Esposito and Ryan had apprehended.

"I already told you. I was nowhere near that alley. Fact is, your witnesses are blind," Diego said.

"The fact is, you knew Orlando Costas," Beckett told him harshly.

"Yeah, I knew him, once. Before he turned his back."

"When was the last time you heard from him?" Esposito asked.

"Not in years."

"Hours," Beckett said. "Just before he was killed Orlando called a burner cell, same phone that we found on you. So why don't you just admit to it and save yourself thirty years? You had him break in to Roy Montgomery's house and steal your cousin's case files and then you shot him."

"What you got, chica? Huh? The gun's not going to be a match. So that leaves you with what? A phone call? A couple people saw a very common car. You want to know why you can't pin this on me, chica? I wasn't there."

"The hell you weren't," Beckett exclaimed. Before she could say anything else, someone knocked on the glass. Esposito turned, Beckett didn't. Instead she grinned and looked Diego straight in the eyes. "That's gonna be ballistics. Last chance to make a deal."

Diego stared her down, but didn't say anything. He was not biting.

Beckett and Esposito walked out of the interrogation room where Ryan and to their surprise Castle were waiting for them.

"Castle, what are you doing here?" Beckett exclaimed.

"I brought you guys' lunch," Castle replied and pointed to the cantons of Chinese on Beckett's desk. Truth was, Ryan and Esposito had called him to update him on the upcoming interrogating of Diego Guetierrez. Bringing lunch was his way to explain to Gates - should she for whatever reason come back to the precinct - for why he was there.

"Thanks." Beckett said and turned to Ryan. "Book him on the drugs and weapons charge and tell the DA I'm going to want to file for murder 1," she ordered him.

"It wasn't him," Ryan responded.

"What do you mean it wasn't him?" Beckett asked incredulously. Esposito looked a bit surprised too, but Castle wasn't. Ryan had told him about his findings when he met the writer.

"The skin tissue that Lanie was able to scrape from underneath our victim's fingernails, the lab was able to pull DNA. We ran it against Diego. It's not a match. In fact, it wasn't a match to anyone in the system," Ryan told them, handed Beckett a file and continued, "but it did match DNA trace evidence found at another crime scene."

"Well at least that's something. What was the crime scene?" Beckett asked.

"It was a shooting." Ryan said. Ryan looked straight at Beckett. "Beckett, it was your shooting. DNA confirms that the man who killed Orlando Costas in that alley is the same man who put a bullet in your heart." Beckett was feeling a mixture of emotions - there was shock, confusion, phantom pain and panic. She sat down. "No leads for 11 months and now this," she murmured.

Everybody was silent for a moment. Ryan broke the silence.

"Should we call and tell Gates? She has ordered us to keep her up-to-date, and now that we have a connection to you-."

"No!" Beckett forced out. "We don't tell her. If she finds out this is a match to my shooting she'll take me off the case."

Although Castle knew it would be futile, he tried to use this opening. "Maybe you should be off this case." Beckett looked at him like he was crazy, but he continued speaking before she could response. "They tried to kill you once, Beckett. You keep going on this they…" Castle paused and sighed, "what's to keep them from trying again?"

"What's to stop them now? No. I've been waiting a year for this and I'll be damned if I let someone else screw it up." Beckett stated heatedly, stood up and left. Castle didn't move.

"Man, this just feels wrong. We need to tell Gates," Ryan stated.

"Why? So she can send Beckett home? You think that's going to work? You think that's going to stop her? She's going to investigate this case, Kevin, whether she's on it or not. The least we can do is have her back." Ryan thought for a moment and said. "I know Javi, but I don't like it." There was a short silence while the detectives looked at each other.

"Neither do I, bro."

Castle could see doubt at Beckett settle into them. Beckett didn't know it but she was on her way to lose the trust of her team members.

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT HOLDING AREA**

LT lead Diego into a cell while Beckett observed him.

"We got enough on the drugs and weapons charges to put you away for at least five years." She walked closer to the cell. "Five years of your life." She opened the door to walk into the cell, walked past him to sit on the bench. Diego remained silent.

"What's that worth? I know you didn't kill Orlando. But he called you and he talked to you for 2 minutes. And you were in that alley. Why?" Diego still didn't move or say anything.

"There's nobody in here but you and me. There's no cameras, no microphones. No one's listening. I can make all those charges go away." At that Diego looked up to Beckett. "Five years of your life back. But you gotta tell me what you know." Diego turned and sat down next to her slowly.

"He called last week, talking about how times were bad. So I told him 'I can get you some work'. But he knew if he came back to the Cazadores there'd be no leaving this time. And all he really wanted was a loan and could I help him out for old time's sake."

"Did you give it to him?"

"No. He begged me. Said he was good for it. Said he had something big coming up. Something that would make him whole."

"Did he say what?"

"No. But that morning my phone rings. And he said it had all gone wrong. He was desperate, talking about that they wanted to kill him."

"Who's they, Diego?"

"Don't know, but he was scared."

"And why did he call you?"

"Protection, chica. Said if I helped him out he'd come back. And he knew that was the price. So I told

him where to meet. But by the time I got there he was already dead."

"And you told him where to meet?"

"That's right."

"And you didn't tell anyone else?"

"No."

Beckett thought for a moment. "Did you see anything there?"

Diego nodded. "White guy, 6 foot. Caught a glimpse before the night swallowed him whole."

* * *

 **TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN**

Esposito and Castle watched as Beckett added the information to the murder board. "They must have been tapping Orlando's phone. That's the only way they got there first. But how did they know to target Orlando for the job?" She asked them without turning.

"Because he was desperate for money," Castle said.

"Yeah, but how did they know that? How did they know his background?"

"Because they knew him from the military. He was hired by someone he knew," Esposito theorized.

"That's a place to start."

"But whoever's gotten close to that secret is dead. I think it's clear that we're in over our heads here," Castle tried again to get them to stop them investigating. He got a dirty look from Beckett as an answer.

Ryan walked up to them. "Orlando's financials just came in. He was underwater and overdrawn, until last week when a wire transfer for $10 grand hit his account."

"Let me guess: untraceable?" Beckett asked and Ryan confirmed it.

"So it's a dead end," Castle stated.

"The deposits are, but the debit withdrawals are not," Ryan explained.

Castle glanced at the paper. "Right when the money came in his girlfriend Marisol started using it to pay bills."

"Wait, if Marisol knew about the money –" Beckett started to say and Esposito finished. "Then she knew Orlando was up to something."

"She lied to us."

"Not only that, but according to the bank she cleaned out the entire account an hour ago," Ryan told them. "She's on the run."

Beckett was off to look for Marisol, Ryan and Esposito started to follow. Esposito stopped and turned to Castle. "You comin', bro?"

"No, go ahead. I have something else to do. I'll be back later."

* * *

 **DISTRICT ATTORNEY OFFICE**

Castle went to "Carries", bought a few pastries and went to his next meeting. During the day it had become clear that it was time to start the next phase of his plan.

Castle arrived at the DAs office where he asked to see ADA Reagan. He knocked at her office door. "Come in."

Erin was surprised to see Rick Castle standing in her office. "Mr. Castle?"

"Hello, Ms. Reagan. Do you have a few minutes? I brought coffee and pastries?" He showed her the mentioned goodies. Erin looked at her watch. "Sure, I have a few more minutes before I have to be in court. Please take a seat. What can I do for you?" They had met before during some investigations and were relatively friendly with each other. She had thought that those circumstances had changed when she tried to convict him of murder a few weeks ago. That's why she was surprised to see him here in her office.

"Officially, I am here to stress the fact that I bear no ill-will against the DAs office or you personally for your part in the investigations of Gina's murder." Castle said plainly.

"I appreciate that. And I want to offer my condolences for your loss. I wasn't able to do so the last time we've seen each other."

"Yes, you were too busy trying to convict me of murder," Castle deadpanned, but his smile took the sting out of it. "And thank you."

Erin looked at him and put down her glasses. "So, you said that's you're official reason. What's the real reason?"

"Ms. Reagan." "Erin". "Okay Erin. Then it's Rick." She nodded.

"Okay, the actual reason I'm here is that I need your help in a rather delicate matter."

"And that is?" She asked hesitantly.

"I need to speak with your father as soon as possible without anybody from his office knowing so."

"What?" That request instantly change the friendly tone of this meeting, it made her angry. She didn't like it when people tried to use her to get to her father and there were a lot of people. In fact, she hated it. Frank Reagan was the NYPD Commissioner after all. Rick could see the anger building and tried to defuse it. "Wait, let me explain." She nodded hesitantly. Castle turned around and looked out of her office trying to identify if anybody was listening.

"Look, I don't want to get into it here right now. I have information about corruption in the NYPD up to the highest ranks and other city employers and most importantly information about the death of several active and former members of the NYPD." Erin looked at him incredulously and he could clearly see that she thought that this was one of his phantasies. "Yes, I know how that sounds, especially from a mystery writer like me. You don't know how I wished that it was all a figment of my imagination, but it's not." Normally, she would have told him where to go. Polite, but rather clear. His tone, in fact his whole demeanor, however, made her hesitate.

"Let's pretend for a moment that I believe you. Why do you want to talk to my father about it? Why don't you talk to Captain Gates? She was the head of IA before getting the post at the 12th precinct. Or why don't you talk to the FBI?"

"I don't want to talk anybody else in the NYPD because currently there are only a few members I trust completely and that I'm absolutely sure of to be not involved with the corruption and murders. Also, I already talked to some people from other federal agencies."

Erin couldn't believe that she was actually considering that the writer's words could be true.

"But you trust my father? And if what you say is true, you don't want to contact him directly."

Castle nodded. "And you trust me in some way, otherwise you wouldn't have told me anything and tried to find another way." Another nod. "Why is that?"

Castle looked Erin straight in the eyes. "Because the murder of your brother Joe is part of this whole conspiracy."

"WHAT?" She asked him heatedly.

Joe Reagan was the oldest brother of Erin. Like any male members of the Reagan family, he had been a cop, too. He was involved with the FBI investigating a group of corrupt NYPD cops who were operating within a fraternal organization called the "Blue Templar". These corrupt cops murdered Joe when his covert investigation had been getting too close to getting evidence against some members.

"Look Erin. I don't want to be here much longer and cause someone to get suspicious. The fact is, Sonny Malevsky may have killed your brother, but it didn't end there. There is much more going on. The fact that your brother was murdered by those people tells me more than anything that you're family isn't involved." Okay that was a white lie. Marcus and his team had checked into the family as discrete as possible. "That's why I want to meet your father. In fact, I'd like you and your brothers to be there, too. As I said before, I have already talked to FEDs. I want to set up a meeting with all the people I trust and present all the facts I have. However, this meeting has to be as secretive as possible. So, I ask you to talk to your family only where you're sure you can't be overheard. Lives may depend on it, your lives." Erin wanted to scoff at the last sentence, but Rick's whole demeanor told her that he was dead serious. Pun intended.

"Okay." She didn't know what else to say.

"Oh, could you ask your brother Danny not to waltz into my home or walk up to me anywhere else and demand answers?" Castle said, only half joking. From all accounts, Danny Reagan was a hot head. He didn't need someone making a scene, not at this time. It was risky enough that he had come here today to speak to Erin, while the others were investigating a case probably involving the "Dragon".

Erin nodded, half amused, half shocked about the writer's accusation.

"I will let you know the details of the meeting as soon as I can." Castle stood up and made his way to the door. He opened it and turned around, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Reagan. I'm glad that we could clear all misunderstandings. Have a nice day."


End file.
